The Way of the Force
by Michael The-Zorch Haney
Summary: Orphaned at the age of six, a frightened and hungry Ranma is befriended by a man who fell to Earth right before his eyes. It is an event that will change his life forever.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: "Ranma 1/2" is the registered trademark and copyright of VIZ Video, Kitty Film, Fuji TV, and Rumiko Takahashi. "Star Wars: is the registered trademark and copyright of 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm Ltd., and George Lucas. All rights reserved. Any and all other characters belong to their respective copyright and trademark holders. *****  
  
FOREWORDS: In the world of science fiction one name demands more respect from fans any almost any other. That name is "George Lucas". In 1979 he released a movie that would forever change Hollywood and would become the standard by which all other science fiction films would be compared to. "Star Wars" captured the hearts and minds of millions and it still holds them in its sway today with the release of the first two chapters to the saga.  
  
This is not the first Ranma/Star Wars crossover, it will not be the last most likely, but that does not really matter. What does matter is the execution of the story. Most crossovers of this type, Jim Bader's "The Jedi Kasumi" being the best example, rewrite part of the "Ranma 1/2" saga but there is little or not change in Ranma at all. One fan fic actually cast Ranma as the Padawan of a Dark Jedi, but the story was not that good. A question I asked myself was how much would Ranma be changed if he did not have his father's influence over most of his life? What would also happen if Ranma was trained to be a Jedi Knight on the good side of the Force instead of the Dark Side?  
  
Obviously I will try to answer these questions in this fan fic. According to the manga Ranma was about two years old when his father took him away from his mother. He was old enough to walk, so he was definitely around two or three. The Nekoken training took place when Ranma was six, it was also around the same year that the whole thing with Ukyo took place. I left much of this intact for this story. Ranma looses his father when he is six, so Genma had an influence over him for three years of his training. For this story Ranma will be OCC for good reason, but a few bits of the old Ranma we all know and love will show from time to time. As for the curse, I decided to leave that alone too. Ranma without his curse is like peanut butter without jelly, Abbot without Costello, Bill Clinton without a White House Intern. HA! I kill me! Anyway, I've meditated over all of this for a long time and this is the result. I hope you like it. As always C & C is welcome as long as it's constructive. Enjoy! **********  
  
THE WAY OF THE FORCE  
  
by Michael "The Zorch" Haney  
  
**********  
  
Chapter 1: Here's Ranma!  
  
Rain fell in sheets over the city of Nerima, a quiet prefecture of the Tokyo, Japan. It fell onto the tiled roof of the home of the Tendo clan, ran down those tiles, and flowed noisily down through the gutters. Water also flowed down across the face of a lone figure sitting on the back porch. He held a letter in his hands and read over the kanji again just to make sure he read it correctly. It had been hand written, the writer had elegant handwriting. Tendo Soun put the letter down and wiped the tears from his eyes.  
  
"Oh my dear old friend, how could it have happened?" he said in a low voice. His heart ached with the pain of loss. His dearest friend in the entire world was no more.  
  
"Father? Are you alright?" Tendo Kasumi asked as she came out carrying a tray with the family tea service. He always had been a very emotional man, especially since loosing their mother, but the look on his face filled her heart with sadness. She had not seen that face on him since the night of the funeral.  
  
"I-I just learned that my dear old friend, Saotome Genma, passed away over ten years ago." Soun said, the tears renewed their journey down his face. Memories of the olden days traveling with his burly friend at his side drifted into his mind like a stray summer breeze, and just as quickly faded.  
  
"Oh my!" Kasumi said softly and knelt down with the tea service next to his father. She had heard him speak of him many times. They studied under the same sensei together many years ago. She had never met the man but some of the stories her father used to tell were rather incredible.  
  
"His son has been traveling with a man named Tarin Abaru, " he told her. "That is whom the letter is from. Apparently Genma requested he take care of the boy the day he died, and now they are coming here." He wondered what sort of martial artist Ranma was now. Was this man Tarin a martial artist? If he was, what sort of style did he practice? Soun secretly hoped it was not Kendo, he knew it would remind Akane too much of the boy at school was a constant source of annoyance for her.  
  
"We're going to have guests, I should make sure to make enough for 2 extra people." Kasumi said smiling happily as she got up and headed for the kitchen. She always enjoyed cooking for guests, the happy looks on their faces after eating one of her meals also made her feel so happy. This was going to be a special guest, the son of a friend of the family.  
  
"They will be here today, but before they do there is something I must tell you and your sisters." Soun said as she walked by. A sudden feeling of dread filled Soun's heart. What if Ranma was already involved with someone? Certainly this Tarin would know nothing of the pact between the families.  
  
"Alright, father, I'll see where Akane and Nabiki are." said Kasumi as she entered the house.  
  
Elsewhere in the same city three figures walked down the street in the pouring rain. The first was a tall man with long white hair that hung down to his waist. He was garbed in an outfit that resembled a unique cross between a karate gi and a man's kimono. An air of power and peace seemed to surround him, his steps were graceful, evidence that his body was finely tuned, and he did not seem to mind the rain that was fall all around him drenching his clothes and his hair. Beside him walked two visions of immense beauty. The first was a short red haired girl dressed in baggy black trousers and a bag red Chinese style tunic. She was not smiling but she did not look upset either, her expression was neutral. Her red hair was cut short and tied back into a braided pigtail. Beside her was a girl almost as stunning as she was. She had long purple tresses that hung down to the middle of her back, small red bangles hung in her hair holding her twin ponytails. Her dress was far more revealing than the redhead's, it was a short cut Chinese dress that rode up high on her thighs and showed a generous amount of her ample cleavage. There was a slight smile on her face, which broadened a little whenever she looked in the direction of the red head.  
  
"Sensei, I knew I should have gotten an umbrella." said the red head. Her voice was soft and soprano. She did not really mind the rain, nor the unusual effect it had over her. The one thing her sensei taught her was to make do with that you had if you made mistakes. Oh my, had she made one really huge mistake.  
  
"The rain is refreshing after such a very hot day, my young Padawan." the tall man said. His voice was deeper, but had a gentleness to it that could be easily described in words. He also had an air of power about him, like the fury of a hurricane locked up in a bottle.  
  
"It is going to take hours to dry out all our clothes in our packs." the purple haired girl said in Mandarin Chinese. She was used to being in the rain, often she had to train during the rainy season and often did so in the nude. That is when nobody was watching, that is, especially a certain boy whose name she did not care to remember or it might ruin her good mood.  
  
"You should speak the native tongue, Shampoo, that way you will become more accustomed to it." the tall man suggested.  
  
"Nihongo hard to learn, but Shampoo try." Shampoo nodded. The foreign words seemed so alien to her. She had been required to study Nihongo by her great grandmother as part of her training to succeed her, but it took a back seat to her physical training as she got older and it was clear she would be an impressive fighter.  
  
"It is hard to learn only in your mind, focus your thoughts, and you will find it is far easier to learn than you expected." the tall man replied with a smile. "I had to learn both Nihongo and Mandarin from scratch so I did not have to depend upon my universal translator all of the time." he added.  
  
"Tarin-sensei, are you certain this Tendo person is a friend of my father's?" the red head asked the tall man. She had few memories of her father, most of the ones she did have were not pleasant. He had not been one of the nicest people, so if that was so, what would this Tendo person be like?  
  
"I do know that he studies the same martial arts style as your father, so there is some sort of connection there." Tarin told her. He was not certain himself what the real connection was. All he heard were old rumors and strange stories of the pair once traveling around Japan and China together in the company of an impossibly small man. The only person Tarin could recall who was as short as the old man had been described to be was the young Jedi Knight Yoda who had just earned a seat on the Jedi Council.  
  
"I can't help but feel a little uneasy," the red head frowned. "Something just doesn't feel quite right." She felt it when they arrived in Nerima, an uneasy feeling. The last time she felt it was they came to a place filled with the power of the Dark Side, or that place with all the springs. She shuddered at the memory of "that" cursed place.  
  
Tarin scratched his chin in thought for a moment and said, "I did feel an unusual tremor in the Force this morning." He looked at the red head, "Perhaps, Ranma, we should walk with caution, but I do not sense any impending danger ahead of us." He did not perceive danger ahead of them, but he did sense something that did make him slightly uneasy. There was something in the air around Nerima, the Dark Side had a veil over this place, he could feel it, but why and what its source was he could not determine.  
  
"It isn't danger sensei," said Ranma. "Maybe I'm just nervous." She had been nervous since learning about the Tendo family and their connection to her father. That had been a month ago.  
  
""Be mindful of your thoughts Ranma, let the Force be your guide, trust in your instincts and it will lead you along the correct path." Tarin told her and patted the red head on the shoulder. That was one of his favorite speeches, of course he had heard it from Master Yoda, who was perhaps one of the wisest Jedi he had ever known.  
  
Elsewhere in Nerima, Tendo Soun sat before the dinner table facing his three daughters. They were all three beautiful. Kasumi had a graceful beauty with her long brown hair, modest attire, and gentle smile. Beside her sat Nabiki who sported a page boy haircut and dressed in a loose fitting T-shirt and shorts which showed off her impressive figure. The last was Akane, she was dressed in a white karate gi, her dark purple (Thought it was Dark Blue) hair hung in long locks down her back, tied back with a white ribbon. She was pretty, not as beautiful as her two sisters, but she had her own qualities that made her stand out.  
  
"Iinazuke?" said Kasumi looking at her father in surprise. Did she hear him correctly?  
  
"Yes, he is the son of a good friend of mine who-who passed away," Soun explained. "He has been traveling around Japan and China training under the man whom his father entrusted him with when he died. They will be here very soon. If one of you three girls were to marry him and take over this dojo, then the legacy of the Tendo clan would be secure."  
  
"Daddy, how can you expect us to marry somebody we've never even met?" Akane asked him, a scowl on her cute face. 'Oh great, more boys, I bet he's a pervert like all the rest', she said to herself.  
  
"Yeah, daddy, what is this Ranma like, is he cute, how old is he?" Nabiki asked. She was a bit more excited about the prospects of a cute guy coming to marry one of them. If he was cute enough and rich it was help, if he was not rich at least he would have great looks. It reminded her of just how lonely she was, and just how unlucky she was in the dating department despite the fact that she was the most beautiful of her three sisters.  
  
"I do hope he is older," Kasumi said with a sigh. "Younger men bore." She did not really like immaturity in her men. She enjoyed older men who were more dignified, and had better manners.  
  
Soun stood looking out into the back yard facing the koi pond. A fish decided to jump up out of the water and snag a passing fly. How was he going to explain this? "I have no idea." he said glancing back at them.  
  
"I can't believe this." Akane groaned under her breath and looked away from her father. Her sisters looked at their father's back and frowned deeply. 'Oh great, he's a complete stranger and we're supposed to just go along with this, what a farce', she groaned inwardly. The tense mood was changed quickly when the doorbell rang shaking every one of their different moods.  
  
"Oh my, that must be our guests". Kasumi said, as she got up to answer the door.  
  
"Ooo, that must be Ranma!" Nabiki said with a bright smile on her face and hurried after her sister. 'Please let him be cute, please let him be cute', she repeated in her mind.  
  
Akane just sniffed, stood up briskly, and walked towards the front of the house muttering, "Boys, how depressing." 'I bet he'll just go after me like all the other perverts in this town', she sighed in though.  
  
At the door what greeted her eyes was not quite what she had been expecting. There was an older man dressed in what appeared to be strange robes. He was obviously a gaijin, possibly a Westerner. Beside him stood a girl with long purple hair who looked way too pretty for her own good wearing a dress that would put most of the boys in her high school into cardiac arrest on sight. She look like she might be Chinese, at least her dress was Chinese. The person in the middle was cute with short red hair, but was dressed in clothes that seemed a few sizes too big.  
  
"Good afternoon, you must be Mr. Tendo," the tall man said. "I am Tarin Abaru, the one who sent you the letter, this is Mr. Saotome's heir Ranma, and the young girl is Shampoo of the Joketsuzoku of China." He regarded the people before him. He sensed a slightly latent ability to use the Force inside the one with the pageboy haircut. That would require some investigation later.  
  
"Oh, he is cute!" commented Nabiki happily. He certainly was cute, very, very cute. She wondered at the baggy clothes, but assumed it was because he was a martial artist. His most striking feature where those incredible blue orbs. They shined on his equally cute face like a pair of diamonds. For only a moment Nabiki had unusual feeling that she looking at the face of a girl, but it lasted for only a few seconds. There was no way that could be, Ranma was a boy after all.  
  
Soun's face filled with joyful tears as she reached out and grabbed Ranma into a tight hug. "Ranma, you have no idea how happy I am you are here," he weped. "I am so sorry to hear of your loss-I-I-huh?" He squeezed Ranma to his chest a few times, took the teen by the shoulders and held Ranma out at arm's length. Nabiki leaned in close to look at Ranma and her eyes trailed down to the teen's torso. She reached out with a finger and gave Ranma's chest a gentle prodding, feeling soft flesh she then reached out and took told of a generous amount of- Uh oh.  
  
"Would you please not do that." Ranma said quietly. She did not mind really, Shampoo enjoyed playing with her but getting felt up by a stranger was not exactly something she liked happening out in the open.  
  
"Ranma isn't a boy, she's a girl!" Nabiki snapped at her father. Soun's eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he fell backwards. She thought back to that brief moment when she thought she was looking at the face of a girl and almost wanted to kick herself. Well, she is cute., she thought.  
  
"Oh my. Father!" Kasumi gasped. The other two sisters groaned. Why was Kasumi's reaction to anything surprise always the same old generic "Oh my"?  
  
"Maybe we should have gotten that umbrella after all." Tarin said while shaking his head feeling a little embarrassed for having inadvertently caused this to happen.  
  
*****  
  
"Oh, father's awake," Soun heard Kasumi's soft, sweet voice as he opened his eyes. "He must be so disappointed." That was the understatement of the millennium, he could see the future of his family legacy crumbling into dust right before his eyes.  
  
"He's disappointed! This is all your fault daddy, you should have made sure your friend had a son and not a daughter!" Nabiki scolded him. She was kneeling down next to him with Ranma, Shampoo, and Akane beside her. Kasumi knelt down on his other side. It figures when she had a chance to finally meet a guy who had never heard of Tendo Nabiki and her reputation he turned out to be a she. It would have helped maybe if she swung a certain way, actually she liked sitting on the fence really, but she was not ready to go or felt secure into going full out lesbian.  
  
"But-But, when I last heard from Genma he told me he had a son." Soun stammered as tears filled his eyes. That was what he said in his many letters years ago., he thought.  
  
Nabiki reached out and grabbed a huge handful of the red head's generous bosom. "Does this look like a son to you daddy!?" Nabiki said angrily. 'Geeze, she even has bigger tits than I do, its not fair', she fume inwardly.  
  
"Uh, please stop doing that." Ranma said with a depressed expression. If she keeps fondling me like that I'll have to restrain Shampoo, she can so very protective., she thought.  
  
"Hentai girl stop groping Ranma!" Shampoo snapped at the girl.  
  
Nabiki leaned towards the Amazon pushing Ranma aside and stared into her face. "Excuse me, did you just call me a lesbian?" she asked. This girl was a real piece of work, she was certainly cute, very cute actually, almost as cute as the red head. Her broken Nihongo seemed to go along with her outfit and completed her bimbo sex-kitten appearance.  
  
"Please, Shampoo this is no time to provoke a confrontation, there is a misunderstanding that must be resolved here." Tarin said after clearing his throat. He turned to Kasumi and asked, "Kasumi, would it be possible for us to have some warm water, not boiling, just hot?" He certainly did not want to have to help Ranma restrain the girl from attacking the young Tendo girl. It was not that they could hold her back, but for a person who did not use the Force she had a great deal of power.  
  
"Of course, Tarin-sensei." she said and happily went off to the kitchen. She returned a moment later with a steaming copper teakettle. "Here you go." she said as she passed it to him. The robed man walked around to where Ranma was sitting and poured a generous amount of the hot water over her head. Instantly to the shock of almost everyone in the room Ranma's hair turned black, her chest flattened, and she grew several sizes taller and broader. Where there had been sitting a young pigtailed girl, there was now a young pigtailed boy.  
  
"OH MY!" Kasumi gasped as Nabiki and Akane jumped over to the other side of their father. Soun sat up with shock and stared at Ranma for a moment then he began to weep. To say they were all shocked was an understatement. Yes they have all seen strange things at one time or another in their lives, they lived in Nerima after all, but this was just too strange for words.  
  
"H-H-How?" Akane stammered the question and pointed at the handsome young man sitting in front of her. 'Oh great, daddy is trying to hitch us up with a transvestite', she said to herself in disgust.  
  
"I blame myself, during our journey through China we came to this place called Josenkyo," Tarin explained. "Ranma had an unfortunate accident there. Josenkyo is an ancient martial arts training ground with hundreds of cursed springs." He took a breath then continued. "Whoever falls into a spring transforms into what drowned there when splashed with cold water." In the beginning he had not believed the stories, but upon reaching the training grounds his Jedi senses screamed "danger" the moment he set foot there.  
  
"It is my own fault, sensei," said Ranma. "I should have listened to the guide's warning before jumping up onto those monkey poles." He also knew that he should have listened to the warning from the Force as well, which at the time has been screaming like a siren in his ear. The intensity of the feeling he had felt upon leaping up onto one of the bamboo monkey poles had nearly overwhelmed him. It was certainly enough to send him tumbling down to fall into the spring that would forever dominate his destiny.  
  
"Curse?" Nabiki said inquiringly.  
  
"Is ancient place, forbidden," said Shampoo. "Joketsuzoku use as to punish those who break sacred laws of Amazon women." She shuddered at the thought of it and the memory of some of her sisters who were punished in that way. Her third cousin was still cursed to turn into a crocodile.  
  
"A-A-Amazons, the Amazons of China?" Soun asked a suddenly fearful look on his face.  
  
"Hai!" Shampoo nodded happily with a smile. She wondered at the look of fear on his face. Perhaps he heard about their ferocity and feared her presence. It was good for a man to know his place. Ranma, he was a different issue, she could not treat him like a normal man.  
  
"Warm water reverses the effects of Ranma's curse," said Tarin. "As you see, he is very much a young man." Hopefully this will ease the tension in the room. It was thick enough to cut with a lightsaber.  
  
"Then . then you're problem isn't so bad after all." said Soun as he threw his arm around Ranma's shoulder. "Which makes me so very happy! Long before you were born, Ranma, your father and I were good friends, we trained under the same master together." He suppressed a shudder upon saying the word "master". 'Happy thoughts, think happy thoughts', he told himself.  
  
"So you were a friend a of my father's." Ranma nodded in understanding. His heart filled with hope, perhaps this man would know of his mother.  
  
"Hai," Soun replied. "After we both married, Genma and I made a pact of honor that we would join our two branches of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. We agree that if we were to have a son or daughter we would engage them and the future of the Anything Goes School would be secure."  
  
"Uh, engage?" Ranma said looking at him questioningly. Not again, how many girls did he engage me to before he died?, he asked himself. He did not mind the attention of so many girls, but his heart only belonged to one right now, and she was none to happy to hear this bit of news.  
  
"No, Ranma is Shampoo airen!" Shampoo exclaimed and threw her arms around the pigtailed boy protectively. Ranma has told her of the other iinazuke that popped out of the woodwork during his travels with Tarin- sensei over the years. It seemed Saotome Genma had been a very busy man, or at least a very foolish and gluttonous one.  
  
"Mr. Tendo, uh-no offense to you sir or your daughters," Ranma said nervously. "Uh-I think-uh-they are all-uh-very beautiful, and they're probably all-uh-very nice, but I'm already engaged." They were all very cute, especially the one in the one sitting in the middle with the short haircut, but he put those thoughts out of his mind.  
  
"Nani!?" Soun shouted as he face faltered. He could almost see the pillars holding up the legacy of his family already starting to fall into ruin.  
  
The man was back on his feet, his long hair stood up on end. "Son, please listen, this is a matter of family honor, in the name of your late father I demand you do what is right!" he shouted. It had to be done, they had made a pact. Genma was dead which meant Ranma had to honor the agreement, no matter what other commitments he had made. That was at least what Soun in his current state was about to reason out in his mind.  
  
"Father, he's already engaged, how can you ask him to do that if he's in love with her !?" Kasumi yelled at her father as she looked at him angrily.  
  
"This isn't about love, it's about duty!" Soun cried.  
  
Perhaps this is why I felt the strange tremor in the Force, Tarin said to himself. "Ranma and Shampoo have been engaged for a short time," he said. "The circumstances of their engagement are rather unusual but it is no less official."  
  
"Ranma defeat Shampoo, law say she marry him!" Shampoo argued.  
  
"Did you say you have to marry him because he defeated you?" asked Akane, a strange edge on her voice. There was also a slightly dangerous gleam in her eye directed towards Ranma. He did not miss noticing it. She regarded him for a moment. He was handsome, very well built. It was obvious just looking at him he was a martial artist. She imagined him holding a wooden bokken and dressed in samurai garb. The thought made her frown ever more.  
  
"After Ranma's unfortunate accident at Josenkyo our guide lead us through the Quing Hai mountains to the village of the Amazons, Nyanchiczu." said Tarin. He sat down, folding his legs lotus style and said, "Her people were holding a competition to see who would be the Village Champion- "  
  
*****  
  
"Ah sirs, this village of Amazon Womans, Nyanchiczu." the Josenkyo guide told them as they walked in through the walls of the village. In the village square, a challenge log had been erected over a large pond, a crowd of mostly women was gathered, and upon the log a savage battle was talking place.  
  
"These woman very strong sirs, they holding competition, very great honor to be witnessing." the guide told them. His two customers, Tarin Abaru, and a red haired girl with a pigtail watched the fight before them. The combatants were women. The larger one look more like an ape than a woman, she was burly and huge with massive arms and legs. Her opponent, who appeared to be winning, was the most beautiful creature that Ranma had ever laid her eyes on. She had long light purple hair that was almost blue and dressed in a Chinese women's fighting outfit that suited her figure well without being too revealing. She was captivated by the immense skill the two fighters were showing off when her nose immediately picked up on the smell of something delicious.  
  
She looked down towards the smell and noticed that she was standing next to a table that had been laid out like a buffet. Without asking first, with her stomach screaming out for food, Ranma dug in with both hands. She glanced up in time to see the lovely creature decimate her opponent with a few swift blows of her massive bonbori maces. Ranma remembered thinking that they were such huge weapons for such a small woman. How on earth did she manage to carry them let a lone move then around so fast?  
  
"Uh, Ranma I don't think it would be a good idea for you to eat that." Tarin said. His Jedi senses told him trouble was coming, so he braced himself for anything. It seemed that wherever they went chaos seemed to follow in Ranma's wake.  
  
"Huh, sensei?" Ranma said questioningly then followed his gaze down to the front of the table to a sign in Chinese kanji that read "First Prize".  
  
"Opps!" she said turning red. 'Oh great, my first time visiting these people and I go and offend them', she chided herself harshly.  
  
"You there, outsider girl, why are you eating my prize?" the beautiful fighter asked as she approached speaking Mandarin. The entire crowd now had its attention focused on the scene before them.  
  
Ranma bowed towards the girl and said in Mandarin, "I beg your forgiveness, I acted in haste and did not see the sign." Now that she could see the girl up close, Ranma was immediately captivated by her incredible beauty.  
  
"I will accept your apology if you join me on the challenge log." the girl said and pointed towards the rope suspended log.  
  
"Sure, I'm a martial artist," Ranma said as she leapt up onto the log. "If that is alright, sensei?"  
  
"It is an official challenge Ranma, you must accept." Tarin nodded. He could see a small fragment of the old Ranma, the brash, arrogant little boy he knew during his first days on planet Earth showing through.  
  
"What are the rules?" Ranma asked turning back to the girl. 'Kami- sama, she is so beautiful, I wonder what her name is, I bet its as beautiful as she is', she said to herself.  
  
"The one who remains on the log wins." the girl said. She studied her opponent for a moment trying to appraise her fighting skill. She was not sure, but she felt something about cute red head that was not quite right. There was a warning going off in her head at that, but she pushed it to the side. The fight referee, a young Chinese girl, walked up to the log between the two girls and waved a fan between them.  
  
"Begin!" she shouted.  
  
"HIYA!" the beautiful girl cried as she launched herself into action. Her opponent did not move an inch and for an instant she was certain she had an easy victory. Suddenly, the red haired one burred out of sight for a moment and Shampoo felt a powerful kick strike her below the breast. She went flying backwards, and landed hard. When her vision cleared she found herself on the ground and the crowd around was murmuring with gasps of surprise.  
  
"Oh, too bad, she loose." said the guide. He suddenly began to feel very nervous. He knew these people very well and knew they would not take to this happening very kindly, so he readied himself in case he had to make a quick run for it.  
  
The beautiful fighter picked herself up off the ground and walked over to Ranma who leapt off the log. "I hope I didn't hurt you, but I sensed you weren't holding back so I didn't either." she said. She did not fail to notice the look of mortified embarrassment on her face. The look on her face was mirrored by the feeling in heart. She had been beaten, beaten with one blow, and by a nameless outside girl who committed an offense against her. Ranma was surprised when the girl gently took hold of her chin, turned her face, and gave her a soft kiss on her cheek. She looked at the beautiful girl who just smirked at her and humphed.  
  
"AHHH!!! Mr. Customer's we run quick!" the guide shouted grabbing Ranma's hand. Panic gripped him and his instinct for self-preservation kicked in full force.  
  
"Whatever is wrong?" Tarin asked, but something was suddenly nagging at him. He recognize it as the subtle voice of the Force. Something just happened and he missed the entire meaning of it. Sometimes the Force was oddly vague about its warnings, but then if the Force just told people what was really happening in so much words how would they ever learn and grow as individuals.  
  
"Amazon womans have much pride, to loose to outsider woman is worse than death," the guide yelled in a panic. "She give Kiss of Death, it is promise to track down to ends of Earth and kill!"  
  
"K-K-Kill!?" Ranma stammered. She met people who wanted to hurt her, maim sometimes, but never kill. Well, there was that one boy who got lost all the time.  
  
"There has been a terrible misunderstanding here, we will not run away." said Tarin turning towards the beautiful fighter. His hand crept slowly towards the lightsaber hidden under his robes just in case he needed to take a more direct approach. A Jedi never used the Force for attack, but defense was another matter.  
  
"K-K-Kill!!??" Ranma continued to stammer.  
  
"If you don't run now you're friend will be very dead." the Amazon women who refereed the fight said. She delighted in the fear and confusion on the red head's face. She had it coming for doing that to Shampoo, shaming her in front of the entire village.  
  
"No, she will not." Tarin said, waving his hand in front of the woman. He reached out with the Force and touched her mind. It yielded easily to his manipulation.  
  
"No she will not." the girl repeated her face suddenly looking emotionless.  
  
"There has been a misunderstanding that must be resolved," he said, waving his hand again.  
  
"There has been a misunderstanding that must be resolved," the girl said. The Josenkyo guide looked from the girl to the man and back again with an expression of surprise on his face. He had never in his life seen an Amazon back down to a man before in his life.  
  
"Bring me someone of authority in this village." Tarin commanded, waving his hand once again.  
  
"Bring you someone of authority in this village." the girl said and ran off towards one of the many houses. A few moments later the girl returned followed by the most unusual person either Tarin, or Ranma had ever seen before. She was an ancient, wrinkled old woman who stood about three our four feet high. She walked by using a twisted old wooden walking stick like a pogo stick. She had large eyes and long white hair that was longer than she tall. The crowd of women parted to allow her passage.  
  
"What is going on here, what is all the fuss?" she demanded in Mandarin. Tarin could sense an air of nobility around the impossibly small woman and power. He did not sense any latent potential to use the Force within her, but he could tell a fight with her would seriously stress the limits of his Jedi abilities. Perhaps the stories of the little old man who traveled with Ranma's father at one time had been true after all.  
  
"There has been an unfortunate misunderstanding resulting in my friend here receiving the Kiss of Death from this girl." Tarin explained and pointed towards the beautiful girl Ranma had just defeated. With only one blow, and without using the Force. The ways of these people did seem rather barbaric to him. Killing someone who defeats you in battle just because she was a woman, it seems senseless to him but he was put in this universe to judge other people's way of life.  
  
"Is this true, Shampoo?" the old woman asked her. The beautiful girl, Shampoo, nodded with a happy smile. Shampoo, what a strangely cute name, 'I would have thought her name was Saffron or something along those lines.', thought Ranma.  
  
The old woman turned away and was preparing to bound off when she said, "My condolences to your friend, it is our way." What a waste it was too, the girl had beaten her great grand daughter and that in itself was not an easy feat.  
  
"What if the girl was not what she appears to be?" asked Tarin. He was not so much worried for Ranma's welfare, he was worried more for the Amazon girl. Ranma has never killed before, but there was always a first time for all things. For Jedi taking a life was often an unfortunate necessity. Besides that, Ranma had a lightsaber hidden in her clothing and he was certain the Amazon did not have a weapon that would fend that off. The blade could literally cut through almost anything.  
  
"Only a few days ago we visited a place called Josenkyo." Tarin said. The old woman stopped, turned back and looked at the red head as if deep in thought. Josenkyo? This required investigation, and it filled her with a little hope as well.  
  
"I will temporarily suspend my great grand daughter's Kiss of Death until this can be resolved," she said. "The perils of the cursed spring are well known to my people. If you speak truthfully I will rescind the Kiss of Death." 'And if I suspect what I think is true my great grand daughter's position in the village will assured', she told herself.  
  
"Great grandmother!" Shampoo shouted. She certainly had the right to do that, but she did not like having her interfere like this.  
  
"Silence child," Cologne snapped. "Perfume, go to my house and bring me the kettle on my stove." One of the girls in the crowd, another vision of loveliness carrying a pair of axes nodded and bounded away. She returned a few moments later with a steaming kettle. A few hours later Ranma and Tarin sat inside the old woman's house as she prepared dinner. Shampoo, her great grand daughter, sat across the dinner from them and kept looking over at Ranma. The pigtailed boy blushed a bit when he noticed her looking at him, her gaze was no longer filled with hate and contempt, except now it was filled with surprise . and a longing? Shampoo had never seen a more impressive looking man in her life, and he was a man who defeated her in battle. That said a lot for his fighting skills. There also seemed to be a kind of strange sense of power and peace surround him that put her at ease for some reason, but she could not put her finger on it.  
  
"Let me understand this, Miss. Cologne, you are rescinding the Kiss of Death," Tarin said. "But instead you are making it a Kiss of Marriage?" 'She's trying to rope a husband for her great grand daughter', he realized.  
  
"Shampoo is the strongest and most skilled warrior in our village," said Cologne as she prepared their plates. "Only another martial artist of considerably greater power could have defeated her. It is our way that if an Amazon woman is defeated by a strong male that she must marry him so that his strength can be added to our own."  
  
"That is eminently logical, but should that not be something for Ranma and Shampoo to decide on their own?" Tarin asked. In nature the females of most animal species almost always selected the fittest or strongest to be their mate. Breeding one powerful martial artist with another would produce children with great potential. There was also the added benefit of combining the fighting styles of the parents into a stronger suite of techniques.  
  
"Six thousand years of Amazon history are at stake here," said Cologne, she tossed filled plates onto the table one by one without spilling a single drop. Tarin looked at the plates then back at the old woman with a look of respect on his face. 'She is extremely skilled for someone without the power of the Force', he said to himself. "Shampoo is to succeed me as matriarch of our people, if she is to lead she must have a powerful man at her side to help bring strong new blood into the village for future generations."  
  
"This could not possibly happen," Tarin told her shaking his head. "Ranma is in a very important stage of his training and it would be incredibly dangerous to interrupt it." The Dark Side seemed to take delight in tempting young Padawans into his embrace. He did not fear that Ranma would go along that path, he showed no indications of wanting to pass over to the Dark Side, but there was always that danger during this phase of the training so close to the final trials.  
  
"Agreed, he 'must' continue his training, but he will marry Shampoo." said Cologne. If he was still in training, and he was able to defeat Shampoo then when he was finished with his training he would be an even more impressive fighter. In this, he made an even better husband for her great grand daughter. A lot better than the fooling boy who would not take her refusals for an answer.  
  
Later that night Ranma sat out on the roof of the house. Cologne gave him and his sensei a spare room to stay in while they were in the village. The pigtailed Padawan lay out on the tiles and stared up at the stars. Tarin-sensei came from somewhere out there, 'I wonder what that Republic he keeps telling me about is like', he said to himself. His finely tuned Jedi senses told him he was not alone and he looked to the side. Shampoo stood there in a mandarin dress that reached down to her knees and just looked at him.  
  
He then looked back up to the sky. "I like to look at the stars, I always did ever since I was little." he said. It was one of the few pleasant memories he had of the days before meeting Tarin-sensei.  
  
"I never really noticed, I was usually in training most of the time." she said as she sat down next to him. He has such a nice voice. she thought to herself.  
  
"Sometimes you have to stop and take notice of the beautiful things around you, that is what Tarin-sensei often tells me." said Ranma. He look at her briefly and shivered. He could not believe he was in the presence of a girl who more beautiful than a dream.  
  
"He seems like a very wise man." Shampoo said. He reminded her of an elder, the only thing about was the fact that he was male instead of female. Other than that he was a descent person.  
  
After a few moments of quiet Ranma decided to speak. "My father was killed by the Yakuza when I was little," Ranma confessed. "He wasn't a smart man, made a lot of bad mistakes, and one of them cost him his life. I saw him take three bullets, and I was only six years old. I ran away terrified, I hated myself for it because my father had always taught me to never show fear. That was when I met Tarin-sensei." That had been when his life took a full one hundred eighty-degree turn for the better. Gone were the nights of freezing in the cold while his father slept in a warm sleeping bag. Gone were the days of going without food while his father stuffed his face. Despite the abuse he remembered from his past he still loved his father. He had brought him into this world, and for that he had to thank him for at least.  
  
"He took you in?" Shampoo asked. 'That was rather nice of the man', she said to herself.  
  
"Father was still alive when we went back," he said, a tear ran down his face. "With his last breath he asked Tarin-sensei to make sure I was safe and to take care of me. I've been with him ever since. He's been like a father to me, he's taught me so much and there isn't any way I could possibly repay him for all the things he's done for me." Ranma then looked intently at her shimmering eyes. She knew that he did more than care for the man, he loved him like he was his father.  
  
The young Amazon sighed looked briefly at the starry sky and then as her companion did said her story. "My mother died," said Shampoo. "Cancer took her. She was exposed to chemicals from a government run paper mill several miles away. They contaminated the waters with their waste, and my mother unknowingly drank some of it. The mill was ultimately shutdown, it was too expensive to keep running the government said, but I know the real reasons." Her heart filled with sadness at the memory of seeing her mother on her deathbed. She smiled a little at the memory of the raids they perform late at night sabotaging the machines of the mill when the workers were gone. The cost of the constant repairs to the equipment and increased security were starting to skyrocket, and the local officials decided to scrape the plant altogether. But by then Shampoo's mother, as well as many others it had affected paid the ultimate price.  
  
"I'm sorry." Ranma said sitting up. The light of the moon shown on Shampoo's face, reflected in her eyes. Ranma felt a clenching feeling in his chest. 'Kami-sama, she is so beautiful', he thought to himself.  
  
"I have my great grandmother, she is very nice . unless you get on her bad side." Shampoo said with a smile. She was her support during the first few months after he mother died. If she had not had her, Shampoo was certain she would not be the person she was today.  
  
"W-W-What do you think about this engagement thing?" he asked her. He looked at her with a little hope in his heart. Ranma had never thought about getting involved with a girl before. Tarin-sensei had neither encouraged it nor discourage him from it. He did make sure Ranma was well educated in how to deal with a girl though. The little speech about the "birds and the bees" had been rather enlightening.  
  
"It is our way, it is the ancient law of our people which has made us so strong and kept up safe for six thousand years." said Shampoo. She felt pride when speaking about her people. They survived through so much hardship over the past few thousand years. The latest example of their staying power of their ability to last through the domination of the communist government relatively unchanged.  
  
"I-I know what the laws say, but what do 'you' think about it?" he asked again. He felt a soft, gentle hand cover his own and looked up at the girl. She was sitting closer to him, her hand on his, a gentle smile on her lips. Her skin is so soft, I expected them to be rough, but its not., he said to himself.  
  
"Since I was a little girl I dreamed of one day meeting a strong man and becoming his wife," she said softly. "In my dreams he was very strong, he was very handsome. You are all these things." Ranma blushed furiously and looked away. Was he the one? Shampoo had wished for this day to come for so long, to find a powerful man to love. Ranma had certainly proven how powerful he was.  
  
"C-C-Can I tell you something?" he asked her. Should I say it, what if I offend her?, he asked himself.  
  
"Sure." she replied softly.  
  
He looked back up at her and said, "When I first saw you I thought you were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my entire life.". Ok, I said it., he thought and looked at her for her reaction. She smiled at him and blushed furiously. A good sign.  
  
"If-If-If you want to, we can give this a try, see if it works?" he asked her. Shampoo nodded with a smile, they held each other's hand and sat together on that roof until late into the night. The longer they spent with one another the more it felt right in their hearts. Slowly the moved closer to one another going from holding hands to embracing, even cuddling. It was love at first sight.  
  
*****  
  
"That was so romantic." Kasumi sighed. It was true love, her father could not possibly break up a relationship like that now.  
  
"Her great grandmother and I found them both asleep on the roof in each other's arms." said Tarin. He smiled a bit at the memory of it. They both look so cute laying there in the warm night air. Certainly they did look right for one another.  
  
"See daddy, you can't possibly make him choose like that." said Kasumi.  
  
"I'm not marrying the pervert, he turns into a girl." Akane said with disgust. I bet he looks at himself in the mirror, the pervert!, she shouted inwardly. There was no tell what else he probably did when in girl form too. The thought made her skin crawl. Yes she liked to occasionally stimulate herself, it was perfectly normal for a girl, but he was a guy. It seemed wrong.  
  
Soun turned to Tarin with a pleading look in his eyes and said, "Sir, you are a man who understands honor. This is vitally important to the future of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. If it is not passed on it will die out and will never be seen of again."  
  
"Ranma has not trained under the Anything Goes style for many years since his father's death," Tarin explained. "He has been learning the art of the Jedi from me ." This is where they would have to reveal certain truths. Obviously they would be curious as to what discipline Ranma has studied under all of this time.  
  
"Jedi?" everyone except Ranma and Shampoo said questioningly. They had never heard of that before.  
  
"I think we're giving them a little too much at one time sensei." Ranma said laughing at the bewildered expressions on everyone's face. He wondered if these people would be able to handle the truth of Tarin- sensei's extraterrestrial origins. Yes, he came from the stars, but he was still human though.  
  
"Oh my, look at the time, and I haven't finished dinner yet." Kasumi said and she hurried off to the kitchen. As far as she was concerned the issue was closed. Ranma loved Shampoo, she wanted nothing to do with anything that threatened such a power relationship.  
  
"Let us not make any hastily made decisions," Tarin said as he stood up. "Ranma and Shampoo have only just met one another a weeks ago, and your daughters have only just now met him. It is unfair to force such a decision on his shoulders like this until he has gotten to know all of them better, besides there may be an alternate remedy to this situation." Besides, he had studied the laws of the Amazons and found an interesting loophole that might work to remedy this situation. That was assuming his Padawan and his vivacious bride to be approved.  
  
"How so?" Soun asked, his curiosity peaked, Hope was restored, and the crumbling legacy of the family began to rebuild itself.  
  
"I will explain that in detail when the time is right, as for now we need to dry our belongings from our walk in the rain." Tarin said. He could also do with a good bath, his robes were getting heavy and cold.  
  
"Of course, uh-Akane could you show our friends where they can find the wash room and the bath so they can freshen up." Soun said turning to his youngest daughter.  
  
"Sure, it's this way." Akane said and waved for the others to follow her. She showed them to the wash room and the adjoining bathroom with the large furo. A few hours later the three were bathed and dressed in fresh dried clothes and sitting at the dinner table. Akane helped Kasumi bring the food out from the kitchen and set the table for their guests then took her seat next to Nabiki.  
  
"What sort of martial arts do Jedi practice?" Akane asked Tarin. "I never heard of this Jedi thing before, is it new?" she also asked. She could care less about Ranma no matter how gorgeous he looked compared to the boys at her school. Where the hell did that come from?, she asked herself.  
  
"I am not surprised you have not heard of the Jedi," he told her. "For Ranma and I are the only practitioners of the Jedi arts that walk this world. For now." They were probably the only Jedi in the galaxy as for as he could tell. None of the stars around the Earth matched anything in the portable navigational computer he carried, and it was programmed with all the known systems of the galaxy from the Jedi Archives.  
  
"The Jedi arts are very similar to martial arts in many respects, but are also very different in others." said Tarin. "The true power of the Jedi is out ability to use the Force."  
  
"What is that?" Nabiki asked. Maybe it was their word for "chi" or "ki". She sometimes heard her father mentioning it to Akane during their occasional training sessions. It has something to do with improving yourself as a martial artist, thus she paid it little mind since was not interested in learning how to beat someone up when she could just pay someone to do it for her,  
  
"It is an energy field from which a Jedi draws his power," Tarin explained. "It surrounds us, binds us together, life makes it grow, the Force guides us, it speaks to us." He knew Master Yoda would be very pleased with him for using his speech again. For such a small creature the Jedi was certain something else.  
  
"You make it almost sound like a religion." said Nabiki. She wondered if they were warrior priests of some kind, a cult?  
  
"In some ways it is, for the Force has a will of its own, and we follow its will." he told her.  
  
"What sort of power does this Force give you?" Akane asked. She was curious. If Ranma knew how to use this power it must most certainly improve his martial arts skills, and if she could learn this Force thing it might help her. Perhaps, she reasoned, there was a use for Ranma after all.  
  
"The powers of a Jedi are many and varied." he told her. "But to use the power one must have the gift use the Force." He did not fail to notice the eager expression the youngest one's face. He did a quick appraisal of her. She seemed too eager to learn about the Force. She was someone who tended to try and take the quick and easy path. That path often lead to the Dark Side. It was comforting to know she had no latent ability to use the Force within her or she might have one day become a problem.  
  
Time to let her down easily. "I do not sense the latent power to call upon the Force within you Tendo Akane." he told her. The eager look of hope and anticipation crumpled into a frown of disappointment.  
  
"In your sister, however, I do sense potential." he gestured toward Nabiki. It was there, not as strong as Ranma's immense potential, but it was still very strong.  
  
A surprised and wide-eyed Nabiki pointed at herself, "Me?" She had not studied martial arts since her mother passed away. Now this guy was telling her she had the potential to use some mystical power of or some such.  
  
"The Jedi code does not permit me to take more than one Padawan learner, but you could learn through observing my training sessions with Ranma." Tarin told her. He could sense the chances of this one falling towards the Dark Side were smaller than with the younger girl. Within each of the members of the household he could feel a hidden pain, a feeling of loss that they all carried. Perhaps it was a loss of a family member from long ago. I seemed to have profoundly dominated the destiny of the family. This also certainly required some investigation on his part to learn more.  
  
"Maybe it would help if I knew what all this Force stuff was like, that might help me understand better and I'd be able to make a decision." she replied. Tarin nodded in agreement. He could see she had a good head on her shoulders. She was no martial artist, that much he could tell, but you did not have to be one to become a Jedi. There was more to being a Jedi Knight than fighting. That was something that Ranma sometimes seemed to forget.  
  
"I saw that your house is attached to a dojo," Tarin said speculatively, looking in the direction of the structure. "If we could use it later on today you could watch our daily practice session." He had made the offer. That was the best he could do under the code. He was stretching the code a bit when it came to Ranma's engagement to Shampoo. Under the code Jedi was not supposed to get married at all, but it was an option to enforce that part of the code here while being isolated from the Jedi Council.  
  
"Sure, after dinner." Nabiki said with a smile. She did not miss the frown directed her way by Shampoo, and the fact that she moved a little closer to Ranma. 'She thinks I'm after her man', she realized. Well, she had to admit he was very nice to look at. He had an incredible body, every inch of his frame was in almost perfect muscle tone, but his build was not too overdeveloped like the bodybuilders in the school's gym class. He had the body of a powerful martial artist who was at the top of his game. She would have to wager on how many girls at Furinken would fall in love with him at first sight. Compared to the skinny perverts at her school Ranma was an Adonis, he would probably have an army of admirers the first day he attended classes. Nabiki reminded herself to set up a betting pool to see how many girls tried to ask him out on the first day. Of course, they would all have to get past Shampoo, and that would require another wager to see how many could survive long enough to ask him out. All in all, things were starting to look up financially. There was also Kuno to take into account too. How would he react to the pigtailed mega-hunk living under the same roof as her ever-popular sister? Probably not very well, Kuno baby had a very strong inferiority complex and any threat to his delusion as Kami-sama's gift to women was violently opposed. Hell, anything that threatened to impose on his quaint little fantasy world he lived in automatically deserved to be destroyed, with the utmost urgency. It was that quality about the bokken wielding baka that made him so easy for her to lead around by the nose all the time. Ranma, he was different. Nabiki could tell right away that he was not altogether the brightest of guys, but he would be a lot harder to manipulate. She was not sure why, but something within her, a voice of sorts she could not recognize, warned her that trying to manipulate him would be a bad idea. She heard this "voice" before speaking to her, warning her of danger. Nabiki usually obeyed her instincts, and this one was practically screaming at her.  
  
Later, Akane and Nabiki were seated in the dojo with Shampoo sitting not far away keeping a wary eye on them. Ranma and Tarin stood in the center of the dojo facing off one another. For a long moment neither person moved, but suddenly as if by some unspoken command the two sprang to action. Akane's mouth fell open, the stick of Pokey she's been chewing on fell to the floor with a slight pinging noise. Never in her life had she seen two people move so incredibly fast, it was almost superhuman. The bodies of Tarin-sensei and Ranma blurred as they bounded all around the dojo trading blows in some sort of martial arts style that Akane could not identify at all. She saw some similarities to Kempo or Karate, but there were little bits and piece of what looked like Tai Kwan Do, or at least she thinks it was. It took her highest efforts to keep watching them bounce around the dojo like a pair of hyperactive jumping beans the two fighters return to their places where they had started.'  
  
"You're physical prowess is improve my young Padawan," said Tarin. "But, how is your skill with the lightsaber progressing?"  
  
'Lightsaber? What the hell was that?' The Tendo sisters watched as Ranma and his sensei withdrew something that looked like the hilts of swords without the blades. Upon closer inspection they looked more like high-tech flashlights rather than sword handles, but they were certainly long enough to be the pummels to a space-age katana. There came a click, a hiss, and a sizzling sound like electricity passing through high tension power lines. Slender blades of light extended out of the handles and grew to the length of a large sword. Ranma's weapon shimmered with a blue blade while Tarin's was a bright green. The weapons hummed louder as they were moved, then the two fighters leapt into action. Moving as fast as they had before they attacked each other, their weapons issuing loud screeches as they struck. Five minutes of the most furious, intense sword fighting Akane had ever seen played out in front of her until the two fighters withdrew to their starting positions and deactivated their weapons. The blades made a fizzling sound as they diminished. Neither fighters seemed to be sweating nor breathing hard.  
  
"Holy shit." was the only thing Nabiki could manage to get out of her throat. 'Kuno baby would not stand a chance in a fight with this guy!', she realized. 'Hell, he could cream the entire Kendo Club!'  
  
Akane just swallowed hard. She had never seen anything like that before in her life. What was up with those glowing swords?, she wondered also. How did they move that fast? Why weren't they sweating or even breathing hard? She got the sinking feeling that Ranma was light years ahead of her in fighting skills. If only she knew just how close to the truth she really was. She looked over at Nabiki, a bit envious. Tarin- sensei said she had the potential to be a Jedi like Ranma, but he could not formally teach her because his rules said he could only have one student at a time. She could learn by example by watching him and Ranma. Her sister, the girl who had no interest in martial arts at all, had the potential to be just like the pig tailed sex-changing boy. The gravity of it all almost made her want to faint.  
  
"I think we have sufficiently impressed our audience." Tarin said with a satisfied smile upon seeing the reaction from the two girls.  
  
"Ranma is just a Padawan, but he is progressing better than I had ever expected." Tarin said. He looked over at Nabiki and asked, "If you are interested, I will permit him to give you limited instruction in the use of your latent Jedi powers?" Nabiki looked at the pigtailed boy with a stunned expression. In the artificial light from the ceiling she could clearly see more of him than she could before. He was gorgeous beyond description dressed only in his white martial arts gi. A part of her heart which had grown cold over the years began to slowly grow hot again, that part of her that was set aside for the sake of her family so she could take up the duties that her father normally handled. That was making money to keep the family from loosing the house to creditors and ending up homeless. She put her life on hold for the family. She lost out on several opportunities at happiness with young men who were interested in her before she earned her reputation as the Ice Queen of Furinken. Nabiki knew she was beautiful, the constant line of possible suitors she had when she was younger was evidence of that, but that line died down as word of what she was like and what she did got out. Pretty soon, no boy would dare approach the Ice Queen to ask her out or face a fate worse than death. Smothering debt. It tore at her heart, she wanted to have someone to reach out to, someone to love, and to love her back. No, she needed someone to love her, to hold her, to cherish her. She needed him. Never had she ever wanted someone so bad in her entire life. If he rushed over to her and ripped off all her clothes she would not resist one bit, she would probably help him. When she came out of her revelry she immediately felt the tender soreness of her breasts as her rigid nipples struggled against the tight fabric of her bra, and there was the warm wetness between her legs. She was turned on something fierce, and was thankful to the Kami that she had gotten new batteries for her play toy she keeps hidden in her room for those lonely nights. She was going to need them tonight or she was going to go crazy. The prospect of being taken apart by Shampoo, who looked like a fierce fighter in her own right, for trying to seduce her iinazuke did not appeal to her at all. She would have to make sure Shampoo did not suspect anything of how she was starting to feel about the boy.  
  
"Ok, I guess that could work." she said nonchalantly, hoping that she could hide the shudder in her voice. 'Kami, I wanna run over there and ride him like a wild bronco!', she screamed inwardly. She would have to remember to get more batteries, she just knew she was going to run these new ones out tonight. Well, at least she would get to use some of the more interesting attachments she did not get to try yet.  
  
Kasumi lead Tarin and Ranma upstairs after nightfall and showed them to the guestroom. She quickly went to the closet and pulled out the sleeping mats, pillows, and blankets for her guests. The room the two would be sharing was sparsely furnished, it had been meant as just a guest room after all. The floor was made up of tami mats, the door was the sliding type with rice paper pasted across the square latticework of the door. There was a dresser for Ranma to store his clothes, what little he had, and one closet for him and his sensei to share. He was use to sleeping in the same room as Tarin-sensei, so he was perfectly comfortable being with the man. After stowing their traveling gear in the room they went down to join the others for evening tea before it was time for bed. Shampoo reluctantly accepted to share a bedroom with Kasumi, after the eldest Tendo sister convinced her it was not appropriate for her to sleep in the same room as Ranma as she had been insisting most of the day. The conversation at the table change abruptly when Akane asked a question.  
  
"What was with those glowing swords?"  
  
Tarin-sensei withdrew his lightsaber and held it out to her. She took it into her hand as was amazed at how light and well balanced it felt. It was made is metal, the handle had grips that looked like rubber but did not exactly feel like rubber. The end was a tube cut into a cross-section and within was a multi-faceted lens of some sort. She found what looked like a contact switch, turned the lens section away from her, and pressed it. The weapon emitted the same sizzling sounds and the green blade sprang to life. The handled seemed to vibrate in her hand.  
  
"The lightsaber is the weapon of the Jedi Knight," he explained. "It is an elegant weapon requiring the great skill to master."  
  
"Its beautiful." Kasumi gushed in gleeful wonder.  
  
"Is it magic?" Akane asked the weapon's owner. Tarin shook his head.  
  
"No, explanations of how it works would be far above your understanding for right now." he told her. Akane frowned at that. She was sure she's probably be able to understand the principle of how it worked, she was smart.  
  
"Essentially the blade is a beam of superheated plasma energy," he said, giving a much simpler explanation than the technical facts that would have completely stupefied them. "It can literally cut through any substance including metal and rock." Akane reached out to touch the side of blade. Tarin's hand flashed out faster than the eye could see and stopped her.  
  
"I wouldn't do that," he warned. "This blade can melt through lead on contact. Imagine what it could do to bare flesh." Akane's eyes went wide with shock, she had just nearly lost her fingers due to her ignorance. Tarin took the weapon from her hand and deactivated the blade.  
  
"Would I be getting one of those?" Nabiki asked. She really did not want to learn how to sword fight, especially with swords that could cut through anything, but she thought it would be cool to have one anyway.  
  
"When you are ready to begin that part of your training," he told her. "It is a very dangerous weapon so I think you should begin by first practicing with Ranma each morning using bokken." 'Oh geeze, wouldn't Kuno baby find that interesting.', Nabiki thought to herself.  
  
"Alright." she said with a smile directed towards Ranma. If it meant spending quality time with the Saotome boy she would endure just about anything. Of course, she was not interested in suffering immense pain. She would have to do something about Shampoo. She could see the Amazon glaring at her suspiciously. 'Oh shit, does she suspect me?', she wondered.  
  
Later, Nabiki walked up the stairs to her room to turn in for the night. She opened the door to her room and was about to walk inside when a powerful, slender arm reached around and grabbed her around the neck. She was yanked backwards painfully and then she was heavily pressed against the other wall. She did not have to guess who her attacker was, so she was not a bit surprise to see Shampoo's disgustingly cute face glowering at her in the gloom of the dimly lit hallway.  
  
"Ranma belong Shampoo, sneaky girl no try to steal or Shampoo get very angry." the Amazon told her in a hushed tone. Nothing further was needed to be said, Nabiki had an idea of exactly what this girl would and could do if provoked. Fortunately for Nabiki, she was the Goddess of Subtle Manipulation.  
  
"Don't worry, I won't," she said in her most reassuring voice. "He's just going to teach me that's all. Anyways, if he loves you so much you don't have to be so insecure about your standing with him. Don't you trust your iinazuke?" Heh, heh, she tried that line before on a different girl once and it worked perfectly. It would be no different in this case either- almost.  
  
"Shampoo trust airen, she no trust sneaky hentai girl." said the Amazon.  
  
"There you go again, calling me a lesbian." Nabiki said, her eyes narrowing in frustration.  
  
"You like grab girl breasts," said Shampoo with a dangerous twinkle in her eye. "Maybe hentai girl try to seduce Shampoo by chasing airen, no?"  
  
Nabiki turned crimson. Sure, she was bisexual and was not afraid to admit it. It was hard not to be with her reputation with the boys, her only companionship with the girls, and quite a number of them at Furinken often swung in both directions. With the kind of boys that graced the halls of that school she was surprise none of the girls became raving lesbians by their senior years. Ranma had been the only guy in a long time to get that kind of reaction to come out in her, and it was starting to happen again as Shampoo pressed her breasts against Nabiki's. 'She's pretty, uh, pert'., Nabiki realized, then she suddenly discovers that the girl did not wear a bra under her dress. Her breasts were naturally that pert and perfectly formed. It must be due to all the working out the girl does.  
  
"I gotta get to bed, I have school tomorrow, bye!" she said quickly as she pushes past the girl and closes the door behind her. Boy that was close., she said to herself. It is going to be hard for her to keep her cool with those two in the house, and almost as hard to keep her virginity. Not that it was intact anyway. Sometimes in her early development she had gotten back into martial arts for a short time, but then stopped as her business at school began to eat up her free time. She would later discover after a visit to Dr. Tofu that she had broken her own hymen while doing exercises. It was around that time that she discovered the joys of sex toys. She had been introduced to the world of dildos and vibrators by one of her associates, who was bi, and who was also Nabiki's first experience having sex with a girl. She had never done it with a guy yet, but she had certainly experienced the next best thing with what she kept hidden in her room. With that in mind, she threw off her clothes, raced to the bed, and grabbed her toys out of their hiding place. Outside, anyone passing by her bedroom door might be able to hear the slight sound of buzzing the almost audible sound of soft moaning.  
  
*****  
  
"What do you think of the Tendo sisters?" Tarin-sensei asked Ranma as they prepare to lay down for the night. He could sense the unease in his Padawan.  
  
"I don't know, I guess they are alright sensei." he said.  
  
"Akane does not seem to like me much, I think she has a major issue with my curse for some reason, at least that is what I can gather from her." he told his sensei. "Kasumi is very sweet, she's kind, and she can really cook well. Nabiki, I get a weird feeling from her. Today in the dojo I had this feeling like she was sizing me up like a side of beef." Tarin laughed, he had been around more often than he could count and he knew lust when he sensed it.  
  
"Actually, I think she was interested in a different sort of beef." he said, snickering a little.  
  
Ranma laughed and scratched the back of his head nervously. "I guess I have that kind of effect on girls, don't I sensei.," he said. Sometimes it took all the will power he had to keep from deflowering Shampoo sometimes. Often the things she did to motivate him into initiating lovemaking were almost too powerful for him to overcome without employing the Force.  
  
"You're a handsome, strapping young man," Tarin told him. "Some girls are attracted to your type." He wanted to reiterate that and say MOST girls were interested in his type. He could not remember the number of times Ranma had attracted a flock of admirers when he practiced his kata with his shirt off outside. Ranma was like a girl magnet, and most of the girls he attracted were in breeding mode. It made Tarin a little envious of his Padawan for all the attention, but he was happy for the boy. He had a girl, who loves him, as much he loved her. There was the little piece of knowledge about Amazon law he discovered that might aid in satisfying the honor pledge with the Tendo family. But how should he go about bringing the subject up with Ranma and Shampoo. Tarin decided he would sleep on it and think about tomorrow. With that decided the two lay down and pulled the covers up to their chins. Reaching out with the Force, Tarin pulled the switch on the lights and soon they were both sound asleep.  
  
Down the hall most of that night the sound of buzzing could be heard.  
  
**********  
  
Coming up next...  
  
Part 2: Darth Kuno  
  
Ranma and Shampoo go to Furinken for the first time and discover "weird" is too simple a word to describe what happens at the place every morning. Ranma has the inevitable encounter with the Blue Thunder, but Ranma is not prepare something else. Kuno is controlled by the Dark Side. 


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: "Ranma 1/2" is the registered trademark and copyright of VIZ Video, Kitty Film, Fuji TV, and Rumiko Takahashi. "Star Wars: is the registered trademark and copyright of 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm Ltd., and George Lucas. All rights reserved. Any and all other characters belong to their respective copyright and trademark holders.

FOREWORDS: The only thing I can say about the response I've gotten concerning this story is...WOW! I did not realize how many people would like this story. I assumed a few would like it, and a few would jeer at the RanmaShampoo pairing since that seems to be rather unpopular (especially among the KOTF who are against any alternate pairings). Anyway, here is the long awaited second chapter. More will come, I promise. As for the name of this chapter, no Kuno is not a Sith Lord, its just a play on words. I had to make up a few things as I went along in this chapter so please don't be harsh if I stray a little.

THE WAY OF THE FORCE

by Michael "TheZorch" Haney

Chapter 2: Darth Kuno

One of the things about traveling with Abaru-sensei as compared to his father was the fact that Ranma's early morning wake ups were far less violent. No getting kicked out of windows, dropped into freezing cold streams, and especially no more buckets of cold water. Mornings were pleasant. Ranma was often awakened by the aroma of one of Abaru-sensei's breakfasts being prepared on their campfire. The Jedi Master was a surprisingly good cook. He had to admit getting used to the usual foods and spices of Earth took a little getting used to, but in time he managed to master several eastern recipes. Mostly just Chinese dishes which were similar to what he used to eat on his original home world. That morning Ranma was awakened by the aroma of something truly mouth watering. He followed his nose downstairs to the dinning room where he found his master enjoying a cup of tea. The wizened older man quirked up his eye brow as his Padawan reached the bottom of the stairs. He knew it was Ranma without even turning around to see who came down the stairs.

"About time you woke up." Tarin said teasingly.

Ranma knelt down at the table next to him. "I'm sorry for sleeping in sensei. You usually wake me up cooking breakfast at the crack of dawn." The Jedi smiled and gave a little laugh. It would certainly take them a while to adapt to this new environment. They were not living on the road anymore sleeping in tents or motels. They had a home, at least for now they had a home, and there was something else also.

"Ranma, while you are here I'd like you to attend school. As I said last night you should get a formal education." said Tarin.

Ranma sighed. "Of course. I have not been to school since the last time we were in the Tokyo area." Ranma recalled fond memories of that school and its students. He enjoyed being around other people his age, getting to know new people who became friends. He especially remembered one, a young lonely boy who had a tendency to get lost just trying to find his way of the boy's bathroom. He wondered whatever happened to that nice young man.

"You can use your old school bag from before. Nabiki had a few extra school supplies you could borrow." Tarin explained as he pulled the bag in question out from under the table.

Kasumi came out of the kitchen with a fresh pot of tea and quickly served Ranma some. "Thank you." he said before she went back. He was not certain but he could have sworn he saw a blush on the older girl's face as she left the room. Ranma enjoyed having her around. The aura of peace she projected around herself was soothing to his Jedi senses. It was too bad she did not contain the potential or she would have made an excellent Jedi. He could feel the other people in the house. There was no mistaking that dark brooding feeling of Akane's off in the dojo. Ranma wondered what the source of all of her pent up frustration and anger was. He made a note to look into it and perhaps ask Tarin-sensei to help as well. Nabiki was not so much dark as she was cool and calculating. Her presence reminded him of the sleazy shopkeeper they had to deal with once in Osaka. Mr. Tendo, he was hard to figure out. Ranma could tell he must have had a traumatic experience once in his life. Probably the death of his wife, or maybe that was just something else added on top of another even more traumatic incident. He could feel almost as if that second scenario might be correct. Again, it was something he would have to look into.

"This is very good tea. That young woman has a nice touch." Tarin commented after taking a sip of his own cup.

Ranma smiled. "I'm looking forward to breakfast, especially if her dinner is anything to judge it must be very good."

"A typical man, thinking with his stomach." came a very tired voice from the stairs. Nabiki stumbled to the table and plopped down across from Ranma. Her hair was sticking out in many different directions and she had small bags under her eyes. Not a morning person I see., Tarin observed humorously. His sister was like that. She detested mornings, called them the worst part of the day. If you woke her up too early in the morning she was as mad as a Gondar with an ear ache.

"There is nothing wrong with a Jedi having a healthy appreciation of fine food." Tarin replied with a friendly smile. Nabiki replied with a good natured smirk.

"Just be thankful we are not a pair of Huts." he added.

"Straw houses?" Nabiki looked at him a little bit confused. Tarin suppressed the urge to roll his eyes. He had gotten so used to this world that he forgot none of them knew anything beyond their own experience on this one planet.

"Sorry, no Huts are large gluttonous creatures indigenous to the planet Tatoween." he explained and as a response he good the most curious stair from the girl. Might as well get it out in the open now that I am not of this planet., he thought.

"Uh, ok." said Nabiki before taking a sip of tea she poured for herself.

"Sensei, do you think its best to talk about 'that'?" Ranma asked him in a whisper.

The Jedi just smiled at him and said in a reassuring tone, "I thought since we will be staying here for a while it might help eliminate some of the confusion if I got this out of the way. The fact about my origins that is." Nabiki, who had excellent hearing, heard this and her eyebrow did a Spock Maneuver. His origin?, she thought. Remembering the sparing match and those incredible swords of light last night she started and look up at the Jedi Knight with surprise. Is he implying what I think he's implying?, she asked herself.

"Looks like your iinazuke is done with her morning exercises." Tarin pointed. Ranma did not need to turn around as he felt Shampoo enter the room. The Amazon was dressed in the same kind of dress she wore at the tournament. She was sweating a bit but not too much. A towel hung around her shoulders.

"Airen, wo ai ni." she purred as she wrapped her arms about the pigtailed Padawan from behind. A goofy looking expression came to Ranma's face and a small trickle of blood peeked out of his nose. Shampoo could be very friendly in the morning. This greeting was rather tame compared to the one he got one morning in the wilds of China as they trekked towards the coast to catch a boat to Hong Kong. There was nothing that would wake a man up faster than having an amorous, naked Amazon cuddle up with you in a sleeping back made for only one person. There was one good thing that came out of that morning. Ranma discovered that Shampoo one hell of a kisser, and that her hair color appeared to be natural.

As they all left for school Ranma thought it would be highly advisable to give Akane some space. She did not look like she was going to be very sociable that morning, and the brooding vibes he got off of her warned him it would be a bad idea to cross her path right now. Nabiki had chosen to walked with them this morning which he supposed was not a common thing from Akane's reaction to her not leaving early after breakfast. Ranma took this time to looking around at the city. Most of the homes were surrounded by privacy walls, the streets were clean and he could not see any litter on the ground. The Japanese people, his own people whom he knew so little about, too great pride in their city and in keeping it clean. This much was evident in what he saw so far. A large canal ran through the city and he figured it probably spilled out into Tokyo Harbor. There were only a few shops on their route to Furinken High School, the transition from Nerima to Furinken could be seen in a subtle change in architecture of the buildings, their layout on the streets, and the increased number of shops. Furinken was for the most part a shopping district but a number of people did live there, and Ranma noticed that the buildings were not so tightly packed in Furinken then as in Nerima. In fact, there was a low mountain behind the high school they were now approaching.

Furinken High, from a distance, looked like any ordinary Japanese school Ranma had seen. It had an enclosed bell tower in the center of the building with a large clock, a rooftop deck for students to go to during break periods, but the school grounds were much larger than most other schools he had seen. Like most other schools it was surrounded by a wall with a main gate which they were approaching, and that was when Ranma felt that strange sensation he came to recognize as the Force warning him of danger. Then he saw them, a large group of boys in all manner of school sporting gear gathering at the front gates to the school. He watched with fascination as Akane quickened her pace to a full out run and plowed straight into the midst of them. Seconds later, he saw bodies flying into the air and heard loud screams of "Akane date with me" or "I do this for your love".

Ranma looked over at Nabiki who promptly shrugged her shoulders. "This happens every morning." she said. Nabiki checked her watch and growled, "Great, I should have left early, now we're both going to be late for school." He looked away from her and back to the crowd. Ranma could just make out Akane in the midst of them punching and kicking her way through. What the heck is going on here?, he asked himself.

"Perhaps not." Ranma told her with a smile. They reached the gates which were still packed with fighting boys. Nabiki ground her teeth, she knew better than to not get to school early but something compelled her to wait and walk with Ranma that morning. She suddenly noticed a strange feeling, a lack of weight pressing down her feet. She looked down and found herself rising in to the air. She looked over at Ranma whose eyes were closed. He opened them and raised his hand with two fingers pointing at her. Nabiki rose higher into the air, she suppressed the urge to cry out in panic but noticed where she was headed. She was rising above and over the wall that surrounded the school grounds. Her landing was gentle. Nabiki whirled around in time to see Ranma hurtle over the wall himself and land with a one point landing next to her.

She waited for her heart to stop racing, whether it was from suddenly flying over the wall or from being near the handsome young man she did not know. "You did that with the Force?" Ranma nodded. Perhaps learning this Jedi would not be so bad after all she realized.

"Uh, what is going on? Why are those boys attacking your sister?" Ranma asked her.

The fight in question was over. A very upset looking Akane stood in the middle of the destruction as dozens of bodies lay on the ground around her. She flung her long pony tail over her shoulder with a snort and said out loud, "Every single morning, you'd think they'd learn by now."

She made it only three steps before Ranma's keen senses detected something flying at her. Akane caught it as it passed her and brought the object up to her eyes. She frowned upon discovering it was a red rose. That was the moment when Ranma felt it. He had been taken to places by Tarin-sensei many times that were thick with the power of the Dark Side so he know what it felt like, and he could feel that same power approaching them now. Instinctively his hand went to the lightsaber he carried under his red Chinese tunic. A boy came out concealment behind one of the trees that lined the sides of the walkway towards the main entrance of the school. He was tall, at least six feet in height, and dressed in the traditional garb of a samurai. In one hand he carried bokuto or wooden training sword. He was handsome and Ranma could feel a aura of pride and arrogance surrounding this youth as well as the taint of the Dark Side. It was not very strong but he could feel it nonetheless.

"What a boorish lot, one would think that they would learn by this time that they cannot best the fierce tigress Tendo Akane in battle." the boy said speaking in an eloquent tone. He raised his bokuto towards Akane and fell smoothly into a fighting stance. "Would you do the honor of battling me, Tendo Akane?" Hmm, he has some skill., Ranma surmised from the boy's movements.

"Oh, Kuno, I don't have time for this." came Akane's reply as she tried to get past him but he blocked her way.

"Nay Tendo Akane, but I insist for if you defeat me I shall allow you to date with me." the boy said in answer to her reply.

Ranma looked back over at Nabiki who stood there watching the bokuto wielding boy with an expression that was a mix of humor and loathing. "Kuno baby has had a huge crush on Akane since her first year here. He's the one who organizes these attacks on her every morning." said Nabiki.

Ranma looked at her in shock. "He causes all of this, every morning?" He gestured toward the battlefield where the boys were just now picking themselves up off the ground. His protective instincts cut in at that moment and Ranma walked up to Akane. This had not gone unnoticed as the bokuto wielding Kuno boy looked at him with a deadly gaze..

"Akane, you should not have to go through this every morning." he told her.

"Stay out of it Ranma, this is my business." she growled back at him as she shifted into a fighting stance getting ready to fight the Kuno boy. The fight did not happen though. The Kuno boy shift away from Akane towards Ranma, focusing his full attention on him.

"And who are you to be so familiar with the beauteous Tendo Akane?" Kuno demanded.

Akane sighed heavily. "Kuno, he's just somebody who's staying at our dojo for a while."

Ranma felt the young boy's anger rise a few notches. "Living under the same roof as Tendo Akane!? So you've been hounding Akane have you!?" Ranma prepared himself for defense. He could feel the Dark Side within this person but he suspected he probably did not know of its presence . He certainly could not feel as if the boy was using the Force at all. One night Tarin-sensei taught him that the Dark Side can become strong a person but they will not be aware of its presence, thus these people can become corrupted by it. Perhaps that is what was happening to this boy.

"Who are you?" Kuno asked him.

Ranma began to speak but was suddenly cut off. "But wait, is it not customary to give one's own name first. I am the rising star of the high school fencing world, my name strikes fear in the hearts of those who hear my mighty name, my peers call me the Blue Thunder of Furinken High, Kuno Tatawaki, age seventeen." The wannabe samurai raised his bokuto into the air as a bolt of lightning shot across the sky followed by the rolling of thunder.

"I am Saotome Ranma, Jedi Padawan and heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts" Ranma introduced himself. Using a technique he learned from Shampoo for concealing weapons, Ranma withdrew a bokuto of his own seemingly out of nowhere. Where the heck was he hiding that?, both Akane and Nabiki wondered in surprise.

"It is you who has been harassing this young woman. She deserves to be treated with honor and respect, not as some prize to be won." Ranma said looking his eyes on Kuno's. He knew better than to try and influence the boy's mind due to the contamination of the Dark Side within him. A Jedi never used the Force for attack, only defense, thus he would rely on skill alone if he had fight the boy and rely on the Force only if he needed to use it. It was the duty of the Jedi to come to the defense of those who were being oppressed, however.

"Cur, you wish to have Akane to yourself! I won't allow it!" Kuno charged swinging his bokuto only to have it effortlessly deflected by Ranma's. They fight for a moment in a small area exchanging blows intended to feel out an opponent's strengths and weaknesses. After a short time Kuno came to the realization that he was facing an opponent who was not lacking in sword fighting skills.

Their swords locked together and used this time to speak. "Akane is not mine, she is her own and whom she chooses to be with is her own choice and not one you or I can make." he said. Akane blushed furiously at these words. She was also very confused. A boy was actually saying she had a choice in the matter of love? Every boy she met since coming to Furinken High tried to force himself onto her left and right as if having a choice was not an option, for her at least. Maybe, she wondered, she had misjudged this boy too harshly.

"Fool! Only my greatness is worthy to be paired with that of Tendo Akane! In time she shall come to understand this truth!" the samurai bellowed and pushed Ranma back. It was now clear to Ranma that the young man's reasoning was tainted by the Dark Side. He had no power that he could see, but his irrational behavior and way of thinking was a danger to others. Time to end this fight.

Kuno came at him quickly, Ranma easily recognized the lack of form the boy was using. Kuno was so enraged that he was attacking without any coordination. It was all too easy for him to get past Kuno's defenses and tap his sleep shiatsu point. Kuno staggered a few steps before collapsing to the ground. Gasps rose up from the school yard and from the students watching from open windows in the school and the roof balcony. Comments like "He defeated Kuno" could be heard. Akane and Nabiki both looked on in shock too.

The pigtailed boy slipped his bokuto back into concealment and picked the limp body of the Kuno boy up carefully.

"You interfered in my fight!"

Ranma could not really understand why Akane was so angry with him. He did what he felt was the right thing to do under the circumstances. They were now eating the bento box lunches Kasumi had made for them. The pigtailed Padawan had to admit the eldest of the three sisters was certainly a wonderful cook, and very beautiful as well. Following the anti-climatic battle with Kuno they went to the Nurse's station and dropped the wannabe samurai off to have his wounds treated before he woke up. That would not be the end of the matter though, Ranma surmised. The boy's mind was tainted by the Dark Side of the Force, and while he had no knowledge of the power he carried within the insanity it was inducing made him a danger to himself and everyone else around him. Above all, he realized the Kuno boy must never learn the nature of the Force lest he learn how to use the power within him and becomes what Tarin-sensei calls a Dark Side Warrior. From the description his sensei gave they were most formidable.

"I did what I thought was the proper course of action at the time." he replied calmly.

"I can handle him, I don't need you to protect me!" Akane retorted.

Ranma focused his eyes on her and said, "He's tainted by the Dark Side, he may not know of the power within him, but it does make him considerably dangerous otherwise." Akane looked back at him with shock. She had heard some of what was described as the Dark and Light sides of Force from what Ranma and Tarin told her father.

"The Dark Side of Force?" she said questioningly.

Ranma nodded. "Yes, I felt it within him. The power of the Dark Side had driven him to insanity, but he is unaware of the presence of this power and it would be best he never learns of it or he could become an even greater danger."

"What do you mean?" Akane asked him. Her face turned a little pale. Kuno had always been a major thorn in her side, but the idea that he could become a real threat frightened her. The last thing she wanted was a Kuno who could actually force himself onto her and have the power to do it easily.

"Tarin-sensei told me once about Dark Side Warriors, people with no formal Jedi or Sith training who have been consumed by the Dark Side. They are more like berzerkers rather than trained warriors and their powers make them extremely dangerous." he explained. Akane grew even more pale at this revelation, she remembered seeing what Ranma and his sensei were capable of doing in the dojo. The idea of Kuno having the same inhuman reflexes terrified the hell out of her.

"I must speak with Tarin-sensei immediately after school about this," said Ranma. "He also told me that sometimes there is a way to purge someone of the Dark Side's influence, and the sooner we neutralized the power within Kuno the better." Akane could only nod, she was not sure if she could speak past the lump in her throat.

Tarin-sensei sat in thought contemplating what Ranma had described to him. The Kuno boy was certainly a real and present danger that had to be dealt with. Hopefully he was not so beyond help that he had to be neutralized permanently. That was a last resort, the last thing they needed was to have a Kuno with knowledge of his Dark Side powers running around causing trouble and millions of yen in property damage. The only thing left to do was figure out how to deal with him. Ridding a person of the ability to use the Force went against everything in the Jedi Code, but it might be the best and only viable option. The two sat along in the guest room they shared at the Tendo home. Both Jedi were stretching their senses to make sure nobody was listening on their conversation.

"What we must do can be dangerous, one slip and he could become aware of the power within him and then we would have a real threat on our hands." Tarin explained. Ranma listen intently and nodded.

"There is a way to take away an individual's ability to use the Force which would free him of the Dark Side's influence, but it will take both of us working together to accomplish this." Tarin continued explaining. "Doing this will have us skirting the edge of the Dark Side ourselves, we must be cautious and not be tempted by it."

"I can sense that he is truly a good person within, or had been at one time," Ranma spoke up. "I want to help him, if not for Akane's sake because he is a major problem for her, but for himself since his current behavior is leading him towards self-destruction." Tarin smiled and nodded.

"Yoda-sensei would have been proud to meet you had you been born in the systems of the Republic." Tarin replied with a smile.

Ranma looked at the man who had been more than a father to him for almost ten years and asked, "Do you still intend to explain your origins to the Tendo family?"

"I feel it is necessary for it will help avoid future concerns in that direction." the Jedi Knight told him. "They are bound to realized that the technology to construct light sabers did not originate on Earth."

Ranma had to agree. "If anything I think Nabiki may realize that one. She is very intelligent."

"Yet she is also very secretive and I can feel schemes within schemes in her thoughts," Tarin replied. "For her to learn the way of the Force she will need to adjust her lifestyle or she could risk being tempted by the Dark Side."

Ranma nodded. "I would not like that to happen. She is a nice girl, and I do have to admit that I find her very beautiful."

"All of Tendo Soun's daughters are beautiful in their own unique ways beyond looks." said Tarin-sensei. "You have young Akane, her beauty is her strong will and desire to protect her family. You have Nabiki who's beauty is her dedication to her family and making sure they are financially secure, and you have Kasumi who's beauty is her ability to keep the family unit together and happy."

"Nabiki keeps up the family finances?" Ranma asked in surprise.

Tarin-sensei nodded. "I had a discussion with Kasumi today while I helped her with the yard work. Their mother passed away from ovarian cancer six years ago leaving their father alone to raise them. The man broke down emotionally and was unable to do anything to assist his family thus leaving everything to his daughters. Nabiki began to use her unusually sharp wits to raise money to keep the family fairly financially secure. They were not well off, but they did make do. Kasumi took over the duties their mother performed, cooking, cleaning, and making sure her sisters got up and were ready for school in the mornings. She has been more of a mother to them these past six years than a sister, I'm afraid. Even after all this time Tendo Soun is still an emotional wreck. I could not go so far as to say he is an emotional cripple though, he has a sense of honor about him, though it is a bit single minded."

Ranma asked him, "What do you mean?"

"He is obsessed with seeing the schools united." Tarin answered him. "He has an almost irrational desire to see it happen immediately rather than wait for a courtship. I dare say, if it did happen that you would decide to marry one of them he could demand the wedding take place immediately rather than wait until both of you had your lives in proper order beforehand."

Ranma nodded. "I sort of sensed that about him. I cannot help but feel there is another motive to his actions."

Tarin-sensei agreed with own nod. "That is most perceptive my young Padawan. Clearly there is something driving him to hasten the union of the two clans, but what that thing is at the moment eludes me for now."

"I do not loose respect for the man even though he has basically abandoned his children to take up the duties he should have been undertaking himself, but love can cause people to do irrational things and some people are more emotionally vulnerable than others." Tarin added. "Beside, I suspect he suffered severe emotional stress sometime in the past before the death of his wife. What that is I do not know, but it has weakened him emotionally and mentally. The only option I could possibly suggest that would help him is serious therapy which he should have had a long time ago."

"Perhaps he realizes the mistake he made and that has driven him further into the emotional state he is in, or he is in denial over his own actions." offered Ranma.

"That could be likely." said Tarin with a nod. "Perhaps we should endeavor to give him the aid he so dearly needs, but we are certainly not qualified professional psychiatrists."

Ranma laughed. "But to set him on the proper path would indeed be the Way of the Jedi."

Tarin returned his laugh. "Most astute. Now I know Yoda-sensei would have been proud to meet you."

Akane watched as Ranma and Shampoo parred together in the dojo. She could not believe how fast the Amazon girl was. Her body was actually blurring she was jumping and dodging so fast, but it was obvious that Ranma was much faster. The two exchanged punches and kicks and effortlessly blocked each blow. The youngest Tendo guessed that Ranma was not calling upon the Force to aid him in this fight since he was not moving at the immensely inhuman speed he had been the night she watched him and his sensei spar. The fight ended when Shampoo lunged toward Ranma with her bonbori mace leading the way. The pigtailed boy dodged to the side so quickly he left a ghostly after image of himself where he had been standing, leapt past Shampoo, and delivered a swift side kick to her rump sending her sprawling to the floor.

"Wow." was all Akane could say.

"Aiya! Shampoo not see that one coming." the Amazon said as she peeled herself off the floor.

"You're still too eager to charge in with your weapons without raising a good defense at the same time." Ranma told her. "A skilled opponent could recognize that weakness quickly and take advantage of it like I just did now. Swift, blind attacks like that do not often work and its best to be repetitive with them or they can turned against you."

"Hai, sensei." the girl nodded.

"You're her teacher?" Akane asked in surprise.

Ranma nodded. "Elder Cologne recognized my skill as a fighter and asked me to assist in filling in the gaps in Shampoo's training. She is already the preeminent warrior of her tribe, but there is still room for more improvement."

"I've never seen some of the techniques you two were using, what is the style called?" Akane asked him. She had seen many different fighting styles before. Akane was very familiar with the Anything Goes style, which itself was a combination of many different forms, but what she saw Ranma and Shampoo use was totally different from what she'd ever seen.

"It has no real name, it is a fighting style taught along with Jedi training." Ranma explained.

"So its a armed and unarmed fighting style." she guessed noting the fact that the two had not been using weapons when they began sparing.

Ranma nodded. "Yes, it does teach sword fighting when using a lightsaber, but it also teaches unarmed combat as well when deadly force is not necessary." Akane immediately remembered the fight at school. Ranma had been fighting Kuno on his own level with a bokuto, but then stopped using it to end the fight. That was where the non-lethal aspect of the Jedi fighting style came into play, she realized. He did not use the bokuto to defeat Kuno, he touched a pressure point. Ranma was able to easily read her sudden mood.

"Akane, I'm sorry about this morning, but you must understand that the Dark Side is not to be taken lightly." Ranma added.

"What happen at school?" Shampoo asked.

"There's this boy at school, a rich kid name Kuno Tatawaki. Its my own fault he's after me." Akane explained. Ranma's eyebrow did a Spock Maneuver.

"How is that?" he asked.

She sighed and sat down on the floor. "I didn't know him that well yet and I thought he was cute so I went up to him and talked to him. I thought his elegant speech was actually nice, boy was I a baka to think that. He got all obsessive after that referring to me as his girl and his alone. He started threatening any boy that tried to talk to me at school and before long none of the boys would come near me. All my friends were going on dates except for me. I avoid Kuno for a few months and then one day the school had a public speaking competition and Kuno announced to the school that any boy who can beat me in a fight will be allowed to take me out on a date. Thus, all that crap you saw yesterday started and has been going on for a year now." Ranma looked at her with an apologetic expression. He did not realize it was that bad for her.

"The girls at school started to resent me because all the boys they wanted to date start chasing after me and fighting me every morning. I have few friends as it is." she added on the verge of tears.

"Is Amazon way in China, woman looses to outsider man she must marry him." stated Shampoo.

Akane pointed at herself angrily. "I'm not an Amazon! And, this isn't China!"

"Nobody should have the right to choose who you can and cannot date. Did your father ever try to stop this all from happening?" Ranma asked her.

Akane shook her head. "At first he did, but then we found out that the Kuno clan has a great deal of influence in the Tokyo Public School System so everything he tried failed. Pretty soon daddy game up."

"The abuse of power is a terrible thing." Ranma nodded.

"I heard a rumor that Kuno's father is the principle of Furinken High, but nobody has seen him in years. Some of the stories I heard about the man are strange, but considering who his son is I tend to believe them." said Akane.

"Why did not your father go the authorities?" Ranma asked her.

Akane looked up at him with a sad expression. "That was tried too, but nothing came of it. Nabiki helped out in getting a restraining order against Kuno, but it was overturned by a higher court the very next day and we found out the Kuno lawyers were responsible."

"Kuno baby even went so far as to try and have us blocked from taking any more court action against the Kuno clan, but we won that fight." said Nabiki as she strolled in through the open door.

"Yeah, for all the good it did us." said Akane.

Nabiki looked at Ranma, her face a mask of concern. "If you and your sensei are going after Kuno baby you should know a few things. His family is rich, one of the richest in this part of town. They own the Nihon Police Department in this district, they control the school board in this area, and anyone who has been a real threat to them has mysteriously disappeared in the past."

"You are saying this family is Yakuza?" Ranma asked with surprise. Nabiki thought she also noticed a certain glint to Ranma's eye for a brief moment.

"Not quite, but close. They do have a few local Yakuza groups on their payroll as lackeys," Nabiki explained.

"In my business I gather information. Information is money, and I have a great deal of it on Kuno baby." Nabiki added. "His clan dates back to the early Edo period. They were samurai loyal to the Emperor of Japan and were a very powerful family in those days also. Kuno baby sees himself as a real samurai and he is so immersed in his own fantasy world that he can't see himself as anything else. He can do no wrong, in his own mind, anyone who is against him is evil, and there is no way any woman would not want him, or at least that is how he thinks. I've compiled a long list of young girls he's intimidated in the past. I didn't know about all of this until after he had been chasing Akane for a few months. Kuno intimidated and bribed families into forcing their daughters to date with him and even give up their innocence, if you know what I mean."

Ranma looked at her with an expression of shock. "He forced the parents of girls into letting him have his way with their daughters?"

Nabiki nodded. "Kuno baby isn't a virgin. He an underhanded low-life rapist, and I can't believe I was actually fueling the fire of his desire for Akane until I learned the truth of what he was."

"What you mean?" Shampoo asked.

"Nabiki used to make money selling photos of me to Kuno and the boys at school." Akane explained to him.

Ranma regarded the middle Tendo sister with a questioning stare. "I don't anymore. Not after I talked to one of the girls he'd been with." Nabiki told him. "She was a wreck, had to have a lot of mental therapy. He didn't rape her by physically forcing her to sleep with him, but the pressure he put on her was too much for her to take. The terrifying thing is Tatawaki doesn't see it as he's doing anything wrong. He actually believes that demons are influencing girls not to want to be with him, thus he actually thinks he's doing the girls a favor by forcing them to do what he wants."

"I did not realize how deep his corruption went. How long has all this been going on?" Ranma asked her.

Nabiki shook her head. "I don't know. He was like this in the middle school I attended with him, so its possible he was like this his whole life."

"His actions are a result of the Dark Side of the Force. It is within him." Ranma explained.

"I understand that's a pretty bad thing." said Nabiki.

"Maybe Shampoo use Xi Fang Gao on samurai boy." offered Shampoo.

Ranma shook his head. "That would not take away the influence of the Dark Side. Tarin-sensei and I are working on how to deal with that. Perhaps that technique will come in handy against him in the future, for even if we do purge the Dark Side from him he has been under its control for a long time so he may not change much once he is free of it."

"RANMA!" came a feral cry from the house. They could all hear loud stomping as someone came running towards the dojo. Tendo Soun shot through the doors and rushed the young pigtailed Padawan in a rage.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!? HOW COULD YOU BRING DOWN THE ANGER OF THE KUNO FAMILY UPON MY HOUSE!!" the man raged. Ranma noticed the man was carrying a scroll in his hand. Part of a Kanji character making up the name of the Kuno clan name could be seen, or at least his sharp Jedi enhances senses allowed him to see it.

"Mr. Tendo, please calm down and explain why you are so angry." Ranma said quietly, passing his hand in front of the man. Soun instantly relaxed. He noticed Tarin-sensei at the doorway with Kasumi.

"Please calm down and explain to you why I am so angry." Soun said in a suddenly calmer voice and handed the scroll to Ranma.

"Thank you, you can go back to the house now." said Ranma, passing his hand in front of the man again.

"I'm going back to the house now." Soun said and walked back to the house without saying another word.

Nabiki and Akane watched their father leave then turned back to Ranma. "What the hell just happened here?" Akane asked.

"A Jedi mind trick." Ranma explained as he opened the scroll and read the contents.

"Hmm. This is not good." he said and handed the scroll to Nabiki.

"Oh good grief. He's demanding that daddy sign an official document declaring Akane his iinazuke or he'll have the house and dojo confiscate out from under us." she said as she read it.

"Oh my! C-C-Can he do that?" Kasumi asked with a note of worry in her voice.

"As long as they hold the politicians and judges in this area in their pockets, the Kunos can do whatever they want, Kasumi." said Nabiki.

"It appears things are far more serious than we first anticipated, my young Padawan." said Tarin-sensei.

"Sensei, we cannot let this happen to them. What Kuno is doing to Akane is wrong." Ranma said to him.

The Jedi Knight nodded in agreement. "Then we have no time to waste. We do what we must tomorrow and do what we can to neutralize this legal threat against the Tendo clan."

"You can do that?" Nabiki asked him.

Tarin nodded. "If we act swiftly enough."

The mood the next morning around the breakfast table was uncharacteristically tense and somber. Akane had a worried, fearful look on her face. She was also angry, things were coming to a head for her. A year up putting up with this was getting to Akane and the two Jedi would sense that she like a pressure cooker on the verge of popping a gasket. Nabiki was really worried. She did not have the same influence and power the Kuno family had. She did have connections, but they were not like anything they possessed. There would be no way she could head off what they threatened to do to the house. It was not exactly legal what they would do but the Kuno lawyers would find loopholes that would make it legal. It was not like they did not do this sort of thing before. There was real hope though, hope in the form of the pigtailed boy and his older sensei. It was about time the Tendo family had powerful allies on their side for once against the power of the Kuno clan. Kasumi was worried but something in the back of her mind told her that there was light at the end of this dark tunnel. She had always been able to tell how something would come out when things happened. What she did not realize is that what she was experiencing was the Force speaking to her.

"How are we going to deal with Kuno, sensei?" Ranma asked his sensei.

"First, last night you said you felt some good within him, could you elaborate?" Tarin replied.

"I could have been wrong, sensei. He has been under the influence of the Dark Side for a long time." Ranma told him.

Tarin, though, urged him on. "Ranma, you must trust your feelings. Please, tell me what you felt from him."

"It was barely noticeable. It felt like a small frightened child trapped in a crowd of angry people." Ranma said trying to come up with the right words to convey what he sensed.

Tarin-sensei sighed, sitting down his cup of tea. "It is possible that he was stirred in the wrong direction at a young age, then the Dark Side took hold due to his gift to commune with the Force. That would be the most logical answer, and would explain why he has no knowledge of the power he possesses."

"If he were to discover his powers, how dangerous would he be?" Nabiki asked.

Tarin-sensei looked at her with a grave expression. "You saw how Ranma was able to influence your father yesterday. Imagine the boy being able to do that with anyone whose mind is not strong enough to resist the Force. He could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted and there would nothing anyone could do to stop him." Soun said nothing from behind his newspaper. Then his name and Ranma's influence were mentioned he just cleared his throat and said nothing more.

"You mean he could 'make' girls do what he wanted?" Akane asked, a horrified look covered her expression.

Ranma nodded. "And they would not be the wiser because they would see the thoughts as their own from their mental perspective."

"Oh my, that is rather insidious." gasped Kasumi.

"That is the nature of the Dark Side." Tarin said pointedly.

"If that is what is like to be controlled by it I don't want any part of it." said Nabiki.

The Jedi Knight nodded with approval. "Knowledge is the first step to avoiding the temptations of the Dark Side of the Force. Keep that in mind as you learn how to harness your own power with Ranma's assistance."

"Do you guys have a plan?" Akane asked Ranma and Tarin.

Ranma nodded. "Yes, we formulated one last night. In order to get within his mental and physical defenses we must use a distraction."

In their shared room that night Ranma and the Jedi Knight Tarin Abaru discussed ways to deal with the threat of Kuno Tatawaki. First they had to get within his defenses, fighting him while doing what they needed to do to purge him of the Dark Side would be dangerous. A distraction was needed, and what that would be they had to agree on. They were a few hours into their discussion when inspiration struck Ranma.

"Sensei, I can distract Kuno." Ranma quickly spoke up while Tarin-sensei sat in thought.

"Yes, but he will be trying to fight you. That is not the sort of distraction we are looking for." the Jedi said.

Ranma shook his head. "Not as I am now. He has not seem my alternate persona."

Tarin looked up at him with surprise and his eyebrow did a Spock Maneuver. "Do you think that is wise, you heard how he is towards women?"

Ranma shrugged. "The path of a Jedi is fraught with peril." Ranma said quoting a changed version of one of his late father's favorite sayings.

"It is also the wise man who takes the less dangerous path." Tarin countered.

Ranma countered back, "Sacrifice is the way of the Jedi."

Tarin looked at him, smiled, an shook his head. "Perhaps I have been training you too well."

"You only have yourself to blame, sensei." Ranma said with a smile on his face.

Tarin shook his head with a laugh and said, "Get some rest, tomorrow will be a very trying day for both of us."

"Yes, sensei." Ranma replied as he climbed into his futon.

They reached Furinken High School early that morning. The Hentai Horde was already starting to gather at the gates, a few boys from the Kendo and Soccer clubs. A small number of other students were milling about in the school yard also. These were mostly students who liked getting to school early in order to watch the fight, avoided it so they weren't late for class, or lived nearby the school. Tarin-sensei though it was wise if Akane and Nabiki did not come to school that day. It meant playing hooky for one day, but it would be safer for them. Ranma was a bit nervous, Tarin would sense it, as they walked through the front gates. Several of the boys who fought Akane each day gave Ranma an appraising look. She felt like they were sizing her up like a side of beef. More than one looked at her with visible lust in their eyes. She could sense that their thoughts were not very pure in the least. More than a dozen of the teenagers were undressing the redhead with their eyes when she and Tarin passed the gates.

The two Jedi stretched out with their feelings and sought out any source of the dark side they could find. Kuno Tatawaki, being the only source of the dark side of the Force in the area, stood out like a sore thumb. The wannabe samurai made his way from the club house for the Kendo Club and walked out into the front yard of the school. He scanned the area visually taking to see if the boys were gathering like they usually did. He smiled upon noticing the growing horde of young boys, then noticed that instead of watching the gates for the arrival of his beloved Akane they were looking somewhere else. His gaze then full upon a vision of loveliness with crimson hair done up in a pigtail and blue eyes as beautiful as gemstones. Ranma had even gone so far as to dress in Kasumi's old Furinken uniform. Altered of course to fit Ranma's more petite proportions. Tarin-sensei had to admit that Ranma really did look very cute dressed up like this. He hoped it would be enough to get the young Kuno boy's attention. He would soon discover that was exactly what happened.

"Hark, has thou an angel descended from heaven to walk among us?" Kuno swooned when he studied the newcomer with greater interest.

"Verily have the kami blessed this most worthy soul with such a beautiful apparition. To think, two such blessedly beauteous visions would walk the hallowed halls of Furinken High School." he want on and wiped a few tears from his eyes. "I weep at the sight of such unearthly beauty."

"I can see what Akane meant about his eloquent speech." Tarin said quietly with an amused smile. He kept true feelings hidden in his expression. Tarin could feel the power of the dark side within this boy. It was far stronger than Ranma had been able to express to him. The boy had never encountered someone under its influence before, but Tarin-sensei had many years of experience. If Kuno ever discovered the power he had he would most certainly be very dangerous.

"Hello sir, I'm a new transfer student here. Could you tell me where the office is?" Ranma asked Kuno in her sweetest, most feminine voice. He is very good at that., Tarin-sensei noted to himself.

"Be still mine heart, such outward beauty, and her voice is like the singing of angels. I, Kuno Tatawaki, called the Blue Thunder of Furinken High School, rising star of the high school Kendo world, would be honored if he could assist one as beauteous as yourself." the wannabe samurai bowed. Ranma focused her thoughts, calling upon the Force to control her own physical body as Tarin-sensei taught her over the years. A slight blush appeared on her face. She thought it would be a great added touch to her disguise.

Tarin-sensei reached out with the Force while Kuno was distracted by his Padawan and probed at his mental defenses. The Kuno boy literally had no psychic defenses to speak of in place. Of course, he had never had formal Jedi training and thus would not know how to erect such defenses in his mind. Doing what had to be done would require both of them to act at the same time. With the boy's mind wide open it would be easy, but it would also be dangerous. One misstep and Kuno would become conscious of his power or accidentally lash out with his unknown power and discover it.

"My name is Ranko, I just moved to the area, sempai." said Ranma.

"Ranko, surely it is such a heavenly name for such a heavenly beauty." Kuno swooned.

"Keep him distracted. I am attempting to locate the area of his mind that is his focal point for the Force." Tarin-sensei said via mental transmission using the Force to Ranma's mind.

"He is very easily distracted, sensei. I hardly said a few sentences and he has his entire mind focused on me." Ranma transmitted back.

"You would 'not' want to know what it is he is thinking right now, however." Tarin sent back to her, and blush a bit as he felt a particularly perverted thought pass through the Kuno boy's mind.

"Than, my dear Ranko, let this unworthy soul show you our fair city this day." said Kuno.

Ranma produced another blush, a bit stronger this time and said, "Why sempai, are you asking me for a date?" She smiled demurely and winked at him. Kuno was eating it up. She also noticed the disgusted looks she was getting from a few of the girls in the school yard, and the highly disappointed looks many of the boys were giving her.

"I found it. The dark side has rooted itself deep within the boy's mind. This will require both of us to release him." Tarin mentally transmitted.

"I am ready." Ranma sent back.

"Verily, I would be most honored." Kuno bowed. Suddenly, he felt something. He could not tell what it was, but he could feel it none the less. Kuno's danger sense went off and he had his bokuto in hand instantly. He grabbed Ranma's arm and pulled her behind him as he raised the weapon towards Tarin-sensei.

"HOLD! Mine righteous heart those sense darkness within thee! State thy name!" the wannabe samurai demanded.

"Ranma, reach within his mind. Try to reach that part of him that is still good. See if he can resist the darkness within him." Tarin said out loud as he drew his own bokuto.

"RAMNA!?" Kuno looked around in anger. "Where is that baseless coward!?"

'Forgive me, sempai, but this is for your own good." said Ranma as she mentally plunged into Kuno's mind. The boy staggered a bit grabbing his head and screaming out in surprise more than pain.

"Demons...trying my pure thoughts!" the boy cried out.

Ranma pushed her way through several walls of mental defense that suddenly sprang up around the center of Kuno's mind. Pushing through them was not hard. Her mental avatar slashed through them with a psychic lightsaber, a mental projection of her Jedi power, and moved on to the next wall. Bubbles floated around in the miasma of the boy's mind. She could see memories of his past, his father forcing him to get a buzz cut hair cut at the save of six, other boys picking on him for the way he spoke in eloquent speech, and the sadness at how girls tended to avoid him and he could not understand why. She also saw other thoughts. Perverted fantasies and memories of the girls he had been with or wanted to be with. She saw images of Akane in a few bubbles doing things that would make a truly righteous woman pass out from shock. She also was a few imagines of herself doing things to Kuno's body in a perverted fashion. Her mental avatar blushed furiously at the truly perverted thoughts the boy had about her body. She knew she was by regular standards a very attractive girl, and by Japanese standards she was extremely attractive. Large breasted Japanese girls were somewhat rare. Ranma was larger than most in female form.

She breeched the final defensive wall and feel into a vast, dark expanse where the only light was on the horizon in all directions. Ranma heard a whimpering cry on the light cool breeze that brushed past her. Looking around Ranma could see a tiny form sitting some distance way. It was a child, a little boy dressed in samurai garb, clutching at his knees and sobbing quietly.

"What is the matter little one?" she asked the little boy in a soothing voice. She knelt down next to the childlike form of Kuno Tatawaki and touched his shoulder. The child cringed away from her for a moment and screamed.

"Please don't hit me anymore daddy! I'll be a good boy!"

"Shhhh. You are safe. I am a friend." Ranma said in her most reassuring tone.

The childlike Kuno looked up at her with frightened eyes and suddenly they went wide. "You can't be here, he'll come and make me be a good boy!" he cried.

"Who will come?" Ranma asked him.

"My daddy, he'll make me be a good boy and do things." the little Kuno told her.

"Do what things?" she asked.

The little boy's face turned a shade of red that matched her hair. "Daddy says I gotta be a good boy and make sure girls know their place. I don't wanna do what daddy says, but he punishes me if I don't." Ranma's heart dropped as she looked at the young child's tear streaked face. The little boy pulled open the front of his tunic and she could see purple whelps all over his skin from beatings.

In the distance Ranma heard a sound, music, a small string instrument, she could not think of the name at the moment, but the sound was starting to get closer. The young child began to panic. "Daddy, he's coming! You gotta run away or he'll make me be a good boy and do things!"

"No. You do not have to do these things Kuno because they are wrong. No father should make their child do things that are wrong. You have to stand up to him." Ranma told him.

"But, he hits me and cuts my hair and says I'm not a man." little Kuno protested.

She looked him in the eye and said, "A good boy knows the difference between right and wrong and knows when to stand up for what is right. You are stronger than your father because you know what he makes you do is wrong."

"But, I'm scared." the little samurai said as he started to shake with fright.

"He cannot hurt you if you do not let him." Ranma said as a dark shadow fell across the two of them.

"Hey, keiki, what this wahini do'in here?" asked a towering man dressed in dark sun glasses and a grey business suit. "Why you not being a good keiki with her, eh?"

"B-B-Because its wrong." little Kuno said in a meek voice.

"WRONG!?" the towering man bellowed. "YOU IS A KUNO, KEIKI! THEM WAHINI WHO NO RESPECT YOU IS WRONG! YOU GOTTA SHOW THEM THEIR PLACE, YEAH!"

"And exactly what would that be?" Ranma asked the image of who was apparently Kuno's father.

"Bad wahini, talk'in back to da betters." Kuno's father said waving his finger at the redhead with disappointment. "Keiki, you better be a good boy now and show this wahini to show respect to da Kuno name, yeah."

"I don't wanna." little Kuno sobbed and laid on the ground in a fetal position.

"Bad keiki, here I show ya how to be a good boy." the towering man said. Ranma yelped in surprise as she suddenly noticed her top was gone, then her bottom was suddenly gone leaving her completely naked.

"Da Kunos is a honorable clan, yeah. The wahini gotta be crazy not to wanna be wit a Kuno. So ya gotta set them straight keiki." the towering man said with leering smile.

"I see, your father forced his own perverted ideals onto you so much that eventually you gave in and started doing what he wanted." Ranma said in sudden realization.

The little boy looked up at her, blushed furiously and nodded. The vision of his father standing over them did not like where this was going. "GET UP KEIKI! BE A GOOD BOY WITH THIS WAHINI NOW!"

"Get up, face your father. He cannot hurt you, he is in the wrong, you must stand up to him or you will be trapped her forever." Ranma told the little boy. Little Kuno nodded, wiped away the tears and stood up. Instantly, Ranma's school uniform returned in a puff of smoke.

"NANI!?" the towering man yelled in rage.

"No daddy, its bad to make me do that to girls! I don't wanna hurt girls anymore!" little Kuno yelled at the towering man. His father suddenly grew even taller than before and stomped his foot. The ground shook knocking the two of them off their feet. Little Kuno suddenly looked terrified.

"Do not be afraid, show him he cannot frighten you anymore." Ranma encouraged him.

"All wahini gotta respect the Kuno name! Ya gotta make them or ya ain't a man!" his father shouted.

Little Kuno turned into his teenaged equivalent and said, "A man who force himself on girls isn't a man, he's a rapist and that is lower than a man. For he is without honor."

"FOOL!" the towering man bellowed! "YA GOT NO HONOR IF THE WAHINI NO RESPECT YA!"

"If you treated girls like this when you were my age I can see why, father." the teenaged Kuno said. With that said he suddenly grew taller. His head was up to his father's knees.

"BE A GOOD BOY NOW KEIKI OR YA GONNA BE PUNISHED!" his father warned him as he took off his belt.

"No, you can't hurt me anymore father." teenaged Kuno said and stood his ground staring into his father's eyes.

"WAHINI, YOU DID THIS, YOU PUT THESE EVIL THOUGHTS INTO MY KEKI'S HEAD! YOU GOTTA BE PUNISHED!" Kuno's father yelled focusing his eyes on Ranma. He raised the belt over his head and prepared to lash out. A gargantuan bokuto suddenly blocked his path. Ranma looked up to see a teenaged Kuno now as tall as his father holding the weapon before him.

"The evil one here is you father." teenaged Kuno said with righteous conviction.

"I AM A KUNO! THE CLAN BLESSED BY THE KAMI WE IS! ALL WHO DON'T RESPECT THE KUNO CLAN IS EVIL AND NEEDS TA BE PUNISHED! WE IS THE KAMI'S CHOOSEN WE IS!" his father cried out in rage, but Ranma suddenly noticed the man's size began to dwindle. The light on the horizon started to shine a bit more brightly.

"You are nothing but a disturbed little man with delusions of grandeur. A man is gains not respect from whom his kin is, but from his own deeds." teenaged Kuno replied with greater confidence than before and real pride showing like a light on his face. His father shrank further coming down to the size of Ranma.

"It is shameful to force such impure ideals on a small child." Ranma told the now normal sized man.

"I hate you daddy!" a towering Kuno said now in the form of a little boy holding a bokuto. "I hated you for beating me, for forcing me to do those things to the girls at school. I don't want you to be my daddy anymore!"

"NOOOO!!!" the normal sized man screamed and quickly transformed into a hideous nightmarish thing. A twisted apparition of Kuno's father stood where the man had just been. It was inhuman in appearance and from it came an aura of the darkest evil. The mental representation of the Dark Side.

"This one belongs to US!" the thing cried in an inhuman voice.

Ranma ignited her psychic lightsaber and swung at the thing's head as she said, "Not anymore."

In the real world, Tarin-sensei was not even sweating with the effort of fighting the Kuno boy. He certainly had some skill, but they were nothing compared to a skilled Jedi Knight. A sizable crowd of students had gathered to watch the battle between Kuno and this man who had been escorting the new girl. Ranma awoke out her Jedi trance in time to see Kuno stagger a bit as he readied another bokuto strike, but he did not get the chance to follow through. The boy grabbed at his head, let out a soft moan and collapsed to the ground.

Ranma staggered some as she walked forward. Tarin-sensei grabbed her shoulders to steady her while she recovered. "Take it easy, doing that expends a great deal of energy. How do you feel?"

"Tired, and hungry." she replied.

"That sounds like 'my' Padawan alright." Tarin smiled.

"Why do you say that?" Ranma asked him.

Tarin-sensei smiled at her and said, "This was a test Ranma. I could have done this while you faced Kuno easily, but I had to test you to see if you were truly ready."

"Ready for what?" Ranma looked at her sensei with a puzzled expression.

"When doing this there is a danger of the Dark Side taking hold within you. That is why it was dangerous for both of us. But, you helped Kuno defeat the darkness within him, he fought it taking back what it had taken from him so you could deliver the final blow." her sensei replied.

Then the man gave her a bigger, prouder smile. "This test proves that you are ready for the Trials, my Padawan. There is little left that I can teach you."

"Sensei." Ranma gasped in surprise, then blushed as her stomach let out a loud protest that echoed across the school yard.

Tarin laughed, "Let us go home and get something to eat and rest ourselves." The two turned to leave then Ranma looked back at the boy laying on the ground unconscious behind them.

"What about him, sensei?" she asked.

Tarin-sensei thought for moment. Without saying a word he went over to the boy picked him up and carried him into the school. They left Kuno at the nurse's office. He was there so often in the morning after Akane's daily beatings that the woman did not ask what had happened to him. The two left laughing and chatting like old friends as they left the school yard and a horde of bewildered students behind.

The incident would become legend at Furinken High School from that day forward.

Coming up next...

Part 3: Chronicles of the Lost Boy

On their training journey around the orient Ranma and Tarin came across a boy without a sense of direction. After two years Ranma and Ryoga are finally reunited, but what kind of reunion will it be? Also, Kuno, though purged of the Dark Side, sets a plan into motion to make the Pigtailed Girl his.


	3. Chapter 3

DISCLAIMER: "Ranma 1/2" is the registered trademark and copyright of VIZ Video, Kitty Film, Fuji TV, and Rumiko Takahashi. "Star Wars: is the registered trademark and copyright of 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm Ltd., and George Lucas. All rights reserved. Any and all other characters belong to their respective copyright and trademark holders.

Notes follow this chapter.

THE WAY OF THE FORCE

by Michael "TheZorch" Haney

Part 3 – Chronicles of the Lost Boy Part 1

Nabiki furrowed her brow as she concentrated. Concentrating was something she was good at, it was necessary to concentrate hard when she was working on her ledger. One tiny mistake and she'd have a real mess on her hands. This was a bit different, this was a lot harder than balancing a check book. Working with numbers, she could do, but this was totally way out in left field. She squinted her eyes and squared up her jaw as she focused all of her thought on the object in front of her. An empty box of Pocky.

She felt ... something. It was indescribable yet also exhilarating at the same time. It was like a wave of cool water was swashing over her and through her. It was just a trickle at first but soon it became a torrent. She jumped back with a start when the box shot into the air. There was a loud smack before it fell back to the table ... crumpled from the force of the impact with the ceiling. With a sigh she picked it up and tossed it into a nearby trashcan where it joined several other similarly mangled objects. She could feel his eyes on her, when she looked into those beautiful, crystal blue orbs she didn't see frustration or consternation, but something a kin to humor.

"Maybe I'm not cut out for this Jedi stuff." she said.

Ranma sighed and replied, "I can't remember how many times I asked myself that when I was just beginning to learn how to use the Force."

He leaned forward towards her and took her hands in his. If she had been surprised by this action Nabiki didn't show it so she just looked into his eyes again. "The Force is strong with you, and like anything it takes practice. In time you will have precise control. Don't expect instant results ... shortcuts lead to the Dark Side." He added that last part in a deeper tone. It had been three weeks since the incident with Kuno. The bokuto wielding baka had been absent from school ever since then. Nobody complained. Besides, she was making a killing selling info to all the girls, and a few boys, about the new kid at school. The new kid who defeated Kuno and obviously sent him packing. Another good thing that came out of it was an end to the morning attacks. The Hentai Horde had officially disbanded. Akane wasn't Ranma's iinazuke, she made that perfectly clear to everyone who asked, but the boys figured it was better to be on Ranma's good side by leaving her alone.

The middle Tendo sister blushed realizing that Ranma hadn't let go of her hands yet. He had such soft hands., she said to herself. Sensing her embarrassment Ranma let her go and sat back. He placed an empty soda can on the table. "Lets do this again. This time don't force it, concentrate on the can and let the Force do the work." he told her.

With a nod Nabiki focused on the can and concentrated. This time she didn't push too hard and felt the trickle of power flow through her. She pushed just a little more until she felt a strong flow, and to her surprise the can lifted. She had to catch herself from loosing her focus to keep the can airborne. Slowly she imagined the can floating back down to the table and that is what it did.

"Now, do you understand, ne?" Ranma asked her.

Nabiki nodded while still a bit stunned. "Hai, sensei."

I see where he's coming from, Akane would never have had the patience for this., she told herself. Over the next hour Nabiki levitated more objects. Ranma slowly increased the weight of the items she lifted. The heaviest was a full, unopened soda can. By the end of the second hour she was stacking the cans up with almost casual ease. She didn't have to push too hard to get the Force to do what she wanted. It was as if it "knew" what she wanted it to do. That was both amazing and scary at the same time, but only slightly.

"Now, lets try something completely different." Ranma told her and beckoned for her to follow him out of the dinning room. They went out onto the back porch overlooking the koi pond. A carp broke the surface of the water. Ranma stepped down and walked over to one of the stones ringing the pond.

"Now, I want you to lift this." he said pointing to one of the rocks.

Nabiki looked at him wide-eyed. "I couldn't lift that with my hands let alone with my mind." she said.

"Why?" he asked her nonchalantly.

Nabiki rolled her eyes and replied, "Well, duh, its too heavy. And its been embedded there in the ground for years." She couldn't believe he wanted her to do this. It took her a week just to get moving cans around right now this.

"Moving this is no different than moving the cans." he told her.

"But, its too heavy." she repeated.

"Only in your mind." Ranma replied pointing a finger to his forehead. "Its different only ... in ... your ... mind."

With a shrug Nabiki said, "Ok, I'll try."

"No," he told her putting up his hand. "Do or do not, there is no try." Tarin-sensei had told him that was one of Yoda-sensei's favorite sayings. He hoped that one day it might be possible for him to somehow meet this Yoda.

She stuck her tongue out and flashed him the red-eye before focusing on the task. Nabiki concentrated on one of the smaller stones. It was the size of a basketball and didn't look like it was lodged too tightly in the ground. Like with the cans she let the power flow through her without forcing it. This time she felt resistance to that flow and she had to push harder than normal. The stone budged just slightly before she let out her breath and sat down exhausted.

"Its ... too ... heavy." she said between pants.

"Only in your mind." Ranma told her pointing to her forehead this time.

She caught his hand and replied, "Faku! Then if its so easy lets see you do it." She let him go and threw up her hands in resignation of the whole thing. Ranma could understand her frustration. In learning to use the Force one had to unlearn what they had been taught most of their lives. This was why the very young were taught how to use the Force so they did not have to be deprogrammed from thinking a certain way which hindered them from achieving mastery over their Jedi powers.

Ok, you asked for it., he replied to himself. Instead of looking towards the koi pond like she thought he would the pigtailed Padawan turned towards the big stone sitting near the dojo. Ranma stretched out with his hand and closed his eyes in concentration. For a moment nothing happened and Nabiki just looked at him funny. Then she heard a groaning sound and slowly the stone began to move. She imagined the stone might weight nearly a ton or more from the sheer size. Most of it was underground, and right before her eyes it was extracting itself out of the ground. In moments the massive boulder, which that is what it was, hung in the air above where it had been sitting. Ranma took in a deep breath and stretched towards the koi pond with his other hand. Nabiki jumped up and gasped as several of the big stones ringing the pond began to move. Before long they were up in the air suspended in place. Then, one by one the stones returned to their resting places. Ranma let out a breath as he let his hands fall.

Stunned, Nabiki walked up to him and looked into his eyes. "I ... I ... I can't believe it." she said.

"That's why you failed." he replied.

She didn't have anything to say in response to that. She just looked at the rocks Ranma just lifted in utter surprise. Another hour later Akane came home from visiting a friend's house. She stopped before going in the door when she saw her sister sitting by the pond in a lotus position. Floating around her were stones. They were the smaller stones from around the pond.

"Tadaima ... huh ... Nabiki?"

The middle Tendo sister lost her concentration in that instant and the rocks fell back into place. "Shimatta!" she blurted putting a hand to her head. Ranma had been tossing pebbles into the pond trying to break her concentration without much luck, then here comes Akane and her focus goes to hell in a hand basket.

"Okaeri-nessai." she said with a sigh. Nabiki got up, stretching her legs some and walked over to her youngest sibling.

"What were you doing? How were you doing that?" Akane asked her.

Nabiki gestured towards Ranma who was still sitting on the porch. "Ranma-kun is teaching me how to use the Force." she said. A brief wistful look appeared on Akane's face but it just as quickly vanished.

"Wow, well you were doing pretty good." said Akane. She showed a genuine smile of happiness for her sister.

"I think we'll stop here for today," said Ranma when his stomach gave a sudden, and very loud cry for attention. "It's about lunch time anyway." He smiled sheepishly.

Nabiki sniffed, the aroma of one of Kasumi's delicious lunches wafted in the air. Her own stomach growled angrily causing her to blush furiously. "Uh, this Force stuff is hungry work." she said with a smile. A sudden feeling coursed through her unlike anything he'd felt that day. It was a tingling that ran up her spine and actually seemed to reverberate through her very mind. She whirled around and looked out into the yard but could see nothing. Ranma was beside her with a look of heavy concentration on his face.

"You felt it too?" she asked and he nodded.

Abaru-sensei emerged from the dojo and walked out into the yard. "Sensei, we felt a disturbance in the Force." Ranma told him.

Tarin leapt up onto the privacy wall surrounding the Tendo compound and looked around at the neighboring streets. That disturbance in the force felt strangely and disturbingly familiar., he told himself. It had been brief but he'd felt it none the less. He hoped that what they felt wasn't what he suspected. Only time would tell.

"Sensei?" he heard Ranma call to him from the porch.

Abaru-sensei alighted to the yard and join his Padawan and Nabiki on the back porch. "Be mindful of the living Force, my Padawan. Something is afoot, I am not certain what but it would be wise for us to keep our eyes open for now on." he explained.

"Hai, sensei." Ranma and Nabiki both replied quickly.

"Can you tell me where to find Furinken High School?"

The farmer look up from his work to see a young man wearing a green traveler's outfit which resembled something out of a long by gone period in Japanese history. The backpack on the kid's back look impossibly heavy. Strapped to the top of the backpack was a huge bamboo umbrella. The young man was holding up a small map up for him to see. He looked it over but didn't recognize the street names. The caption at the bottom of the map gave away the location.

"Son, y'all is in northern Hokkaido, that there map's is of Tokyo. That's about a thousand miles south down yander." he said with a thick Hokkaido drawl.

A look of anger and annoyance crossed the young man's face for a brief moment and he clinched his fist. He put the map away and walked away. "Arigato." he said as he left.

"What a strange kid?" the farmer commented out loud as he went back to work.

Why, why can't I get to where I'm going?, the young man asked himself. He had this problem for as long as he could remember. Because of it he lost out on a lot of things, he barely had a childhood, and had few friends because most people saw him as weird. Only one person in his entire life had been nice to him, a true friend. Though they only knew each other for a short time it was long enough for Habiki Ryoga to realize that he had feelings for this person that went beyond friendship.

At first these feelings shocked and appalled him, but when the time came for his friend to move on the feeling of desperation in his heart made him see the truth. He had to find his friend and confess his true feelings no matter what. So when that friend left he followed, it had been a journey of hardships and horrors. He really didn't want to think about "that" place, no not that place.

"Saotome Ranma, I will find you." said the lost boy as he broke into a sprint into a grove of trees and right past a sign pointing in another direction pointing the way to the main islands.

Ranma and Nabiki walked through the main gates of Furinken High with Akane in tow. Over the past few days the two of them had been becoming rather close while he taught Nabiki how to use the Force. Shampoo hadn't liked it very much and voiced her opinion of the middle Tendo sister rather often. That was a tense situation Ranma decided had to be defused as soon as possible. He cared for both of them and didn't want them fighting each other. Nabiki was only just new beginning to get the hang of calling upon the Force. She wasn't ready to begin the more advanced training though, that would probably take more than a year or so, but the girl was progressing quickly.

The two of them felt a brief disturbance in the force and looked up. An irate looking young Kuno Tatawaki dressed in his samurai homika stalked towards them. All of the student out in the school yard and up on the second floor balcony turned to watch the coming confrontation. Kuno had been away from school for over a week. Now he was bad and there was no telling what saw going to happen.

"Saotome." Kuno said, almost spitting the word.

"Sempai." Ranma replied without malice.

"I know not what darkness has clouded my mind, but now I see clearly. More clearly than I have ever seen in all of my days." said Tatawaki.

He looked at how the pigtailed boy and Nabiki stood close together. He sneered, "I see thou hast aligned thyself with the Tendo mercenary. It disturbs me that any man should find this viper in feminine garb attractive." Nabiki frowned. The look on Akane's face could have melted lead. Ranma remained neutral. Kuno was now powerless, but his martial arts prowess still made him dangerous ... a little.

"We have no quarrel with you sempai, why start one?" Ranma asked him. His hand inched slowly towards the bokuto he kept hidden in his shirt just in case.

The wannabe samurai reached into his homika and withdrew a single red rose. He threw it like a dart towards Akane who caught it without much effort. "A memento to remind you of me until such time as we can meet without these ... peasants hanging about." he said as he turned and walked towards the school.

Akane crushed the rose in the hand she caught it with. "Why that ..."

"Arrogant bastard." Nabiki finished for her.

She turned to Ranma. "He hasn't changed a bit." she said to him.

Ranma sighed and said, "The influence of the Dark Side is gone, but his mind is still poisoned. It will be some time before he finally returns to reality."

"There goes my dreams of a quiet semester." muttered Akane as the three headed into the school.

The school day went by quickly to Akane's surprise. There were no random attacks by Kuno in their classroom nor any of the usual insanity that otherwise happened there. She waited for Ranma and Nabiki at the door and then they all three left together. They had not left the school grounds when Ranma felt a disturbance in the Force. Danger! He looked around for the source and saw a form falling out of the sky right towards him. Nabiki gasped and looked skyward, she too had felt it.

"Akane! Nabiki! Get back!" he shouted and gently pushed them away with the Force as he jumped back and away from his attacker. Akane made a loud protest which was sudden stopped when the sidewalk where they'd been standing exploded.

"Saotome Ranma," said the figure who stood in a crater where they'd been standing a few seconds before. "I've found you at last." He was a boy about Ranma's age with short, bushy hair held up with a yellow tiger striped bandanna, he wore green traveling clothes which looked out of place in this modern era, and in his hands was a huge bamboo umbrella. On his back he carried a backpack that looked like it weighed a ton.

"Ryoga? Ryoga-kun?" Ranma asked. The boy smirked, raised the umbrella and attacked. Ranma's bokuto was out and in his hands instantly. The two began to exchange blows like sword fighters. The battle waged on for what seemed like hours but it really only been mere minutes. Akane and Nabiki watch this exchange and were entranced by it. The fight was like a dance, the two combatants were the dancers, and each move was graceful as precise like some carefully choreographed ballet.

"Wow," Akane whispered in awe.

The battle intensified in its speed and ferocity becoming something deeply primal, something that was frightening but at the same time emotionally moving. It came to an end when the two warriors came together for one finally strike, they parried each other's attack with incredible precision just like before but this time they followed up the parry by launching at each other. The girls and on lookers all expected an all-out brawl to ensue but what happened next caused the entire are to go dead silent.

Ranma was having the time of his life. He knew Ryoga meant him no harm at all. He felt it in the Force. This was a game they used to play ever since they met long ago in school. Ryoga was a great sparring partner. He was one of the few people beside Abaru-sensei that he could spar with at almost full strength. The boy was built like a brick house, he could take almost anything that Ranma was able to dish out. He even taught Ryoga a few fencing moves he could use with his trademark umbrella. Yet, for all of his new abilities and his strong ties to the Force he hadn't been able to foresee this.

"Uh, is it me or is that guy kissing Ranma?" Nabiki asked her sister.

To be continued...

Notes: MMMMWWWWWAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! You weren't expecting this little twist on things did you?

Everything has proceeded according to my design.

Oh, I'm afraid this fan fic will only get more twisted when the next chapter arrives.

And now reader, you will die ... of anticipation until the next chapter comes.

Japanese to English Translations

"Shimatta" means Dammit.

"Tadaima" means I'm Home or I'm Back

"Okaeri-nessai" is the usual response to "Tadaima", means Welcome Back or Welcome Home

"Sensei" means Teacher (if you didn't know that shame on you)

"Faku" means Fuck (not the act of fucking, that's another word)

I'm trying to use more Japanese words and expressions in my fics because they fit better than their English counterparts and make the fic better. I guess its because sometimes I prefer to watch an Anime subbed rather than dubbed most of the time.


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